


Star Wars: Revenge of the Cartels

by Golddude22, TabbyWolf



Series: Jaig Eyes (Pirate AU) [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Pirate AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23054122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golddude22/pseuds/Golddude22, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TabbyWolf/pseuds/TabbyWolf
Summary: It is a period of Galactic strife, after centuries of being hunted down by the galaxies law enforcement agencies, the Crime Cartels have launched a major retaliatory offensive across the galaxy, capturing many worlds and forcing republic forces out of the outer rim.Chaos has also erupted in the Mid Rim as hundred's of smaller gangs emerge from the under worlds, including the Jaig Eyes, under the leadership of Mandalorian Pirate Lord Captain Rex, the men and women of the Jaig Eyes have become notorious for their lightning raids against other pirate and republic forces.Learning that the Jaig Eyes have the habit of leaving republic forces alive after their raids, the Chancellor has dispatched Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano in an attempt to recruit these outlaws to the republic's side........(See notes on the first chapter for more info)
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Jaig Eyes (Pirate AU) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2098038
Comments: 190
Kudos: 216





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is basically a group project on our discord. we add a few lines at a time and have no clue where the story is going. Tags will be added as the story progresses if I don't forget. 
> 
> I might also try to fix that title crawl later on

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away........  
Star Wars  
Revenge of the Cartels

It is a period of Galactic strife, after centuries  
of being hunted down by the galaxies law enforcement  
agencies, the Crime Cartels have launched a major  
retaliatory offensive across the galaxy, capturing  
many worlds and forcing republic forces out of the  
outer rim

Chaos has also erupted in the Mid Rim as hundred's  
of smaller gangs emerge from the under worlds,  
including the Jaig Eyes, under the leadership of  
Mandalorian Pirate Lord Captain Rex, the men and  
women of the Jaig Eyes have become notorious for  
their lightning raids against other pirate and  
republic forces.

Learning that the Jaig Eyes have the habit of  
leaving republic forces alive after their raids,  
the Chancellor has dispatched Jedi Knight Anakin  
Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano in an  
attempt to recruit these outlaws to the  
republic's side........

* * *

As the ship dropped out of hyperspace, Anakin sighed. He was not happy with this mission. The last pirate he’d dealt with had drugged him and chained him to a Sith Lord. But he had a mission to do.

“Hey snips, we have to prepare for landing” he said.

Silence.

“Snips?”

The teenager had fallen asleep. He didn’t blame her. She was sixteen now, which was the age when she was supposed to get a growth spurt. Not just just length-wise, her montrals and lekku were also expected to grow a lot. Which took a lot of energy. So she kind of needed the extra sleep, and the clones had kept her up last with some card game with coloured cards that had started a fight somehow. That’s why they hadn’t taken Any clones with them. Still, he had to wake her up before they got to the surface of the jungle planet below.

She let out a soft snore and Anakin sighed, remembering what it was like when he was in that position only a few years ago with Obi-wan. He'd give her five more minutes, then he'd have to wake her, he thought as he began preparations for landing.

Once he had them on an approach vector, he got up and walked over to where Ahsoka was lying.

"Ahsoka" he said quietly, shaking her shoulder "We're there"

She opened her eyes and yawned.

"Already?" she asked.

"Yep, now come on, I need you up front" he said as he returned to the cockpit.  
She followed him

“Do you need help with anything, master?”

“No, not particularly. Is something wrong?”

“No, why would there be?”

“I can feel you worrying, Snips”

Ahsoka sighed. “I still feel guilty for cheating last night”

“Oh, so that’s what started the fight? Why did you do it then?”

Ahsoka shrugged. “It’s not my fault I can tell which cards they had”

Anakin snorted. Asking someone what card you are holding is one of the most common tests to see if someone is force sensitive, and it was hard to not see what card someone was holding.

“I’ll teach you how to not look at their cards sometime. For now, let’s focus on these pirates”

“Yes master. So, what were the details of this mission again?”

"Well, the Chancellor wants us to secure an alliance with the Jaig Eyes, so we need get an audience with their leader, Captain Rex, and persuade him to form an alliance with us, or at least hire his gang's services, without getting killed" Anakin said "Or drugged again" he added to himself.

"Drugged again?" Ahsoka asked with a smile "when did that happen?"

"Ahh, a while ago" Anakin said "but it's not important now"

"See if you can contact some sort of traffic control or something" he added.

"Yes, master" she replied and began hailing the planet.

After a few moments, a voice came through the comm. It wasn’t recognizable as anything with all the filters.

“Who is there?”

“This is the Twilight, can we land?”

“State your purpose”

“We want to request and audience with Captain Rex, to discuss forming an alliance”

“And who is this?”

“I’m Ahsoka Tano, and I’m here with my master, Anakin Skywalker”

“The Jedi General?”

“Yep, that Anakin Skywalker”

“Well, I’m sure our captain will be interested in seeing you. At least of of curiosity. Proceed to landing bay five at these coordinates”

The transmission cut off there, and the coordinates popped up on the screen.

“Not bad snips. It could’ve been better though. Did no one ever teach you the proper protocol for this?”

“No, the person responsible for that spends most of his time _guarding_ Senator Amidala”

Anakin did not dignify that with a response, instead he entered the coordinates into the nav computer and began their approach.

The world was quite beautiful Anakin thought, as they came down through the atmosphere, the sky was a brilliant shade of blue and fluffy pink clouds obscured the ground below before they burst through them into a world of a hundred shades of green as the forests came into sight.

"Which one is bay five" Anakin asked as they approached what was generously called a spaceport.

"Third on the left" Ahsoka responded looking out the window. "Looks like there's a welcoming party" she added as she noticed a group of people standing at the edge of the pad.

"Great" Anakin muttered as he carefully brought the Twilight down on the landing pad and shut off the engines.

Once they got outside, they got a better look at the welcoming party. One of the first things that drew their attention was that approximately half the party had their entire bodies covered completely, including their heads. Only one of the men that was covered had a small bit of himself peeking out, which was long, dark hair that curled in the same way Tup's did on the one occasion Ahsoka had seen him with his hair down. ~~She kinda wished he'd do that more often. His hair was really beautiful and she had a bit of a fixation with hair anyway.~~

However, the other half of the people weren't hiding their identities at all. Two thirds of the unmasked people were women, and most of them kept close to one of the masked men. So they might have been couples. They were of all kinds of species, mostly humanoid or near-human. They didn't seem hostile, which was good.

The (presumably) human man with the visible hair walked up to them "Follow me" he said with the same modulated voice she had heard over the comm.

"were you the person on the comm?" Ahsoka asked as they followed him inside the base.

"No, many of us wear voice modulators and masks, including our captain. You'll have to respect that if you want to talk to him"

"Why? They aren't hiding their faces" Anakin asked.

"Our reasons are our own" the man said, in a tone that implied that they should probably drop the subject.

They did, and followed them further inside the base in silence, though Ahsoka continued to watch them curiously, thinking there was something familiar about the way they walked.

After about 10 minutes, they left the building and entered a large training ground with dozens of men and women in various armoured states.

"That's the Captain over there" their escort said, pointing to a man on the far side of the grounds, observing a wrestling match.

As if sensing their gaze, the figure looked up at them and seemed to assess them, before turning and walking into a structure built on the edge of the grounds.

"He'll meet you in his office" he said as they walked over and paused outside the door.

"Leave the talking to me" Anakin whispered to Ahsoka, before the man opened the door and announced them to the Captain.

The captain had sat down in his chair. He too had his face hidden behind a helmet with a T shaped visor and Jaig eyes above it. The helmet itself looked like a clone helmet and he was wearing a repainted command wing, identical to the ones some clones wore to signify rank. Maybe this guy collected clones armour?

“Welcome. My name is Rex, but you’ll call me captain or sir. Now, who are you?” His modulated voice said.

“I am General Skywalker of the Republic, and this is my padawan Ahsoka”

His helmet turned towards Ahsoka, and Anakin noticed the slight tilt to the side that clones usually made when they were curious about something.

"What do you want?" Rex asked after a moment, turning back to Anakin.

"The Chancellor would like to form an alliance with you to assist in our fight against the separatists and pirates plaguing this sector" Anakin said.

Rex laughed.

"His slave army isn't enough" he asked.

Anakin gritted his teeth, but didn't rise to the bait.

"Why should I?" Rex continued, when Anakin didn't respond "The separatists are right, the republic is a cesspool of corruption, if anything we'd help the separatists tear down the republic"

"And let billions of people be enslaved?" Ahsoka retorted, ignoring Anakin's warning look.

"The republic is willing to pay you well for your services" Anakin said, sending a mental nudge down their bond "And you'll have access to republic military hardware as well"

"Hmm" Rex said, staring at Ahsoka "We'll think about it, in the meantime Coric will show you to the mess" and he waved his hand dismissively at them.

Anakin rose and after a moment so did Ahsoka, her mouth open to say something but Anakin pre-empted her.

"Thank you captain, we will await your decision" he said, grabbing Ahsoka's arm and almost pulling her out the door.

The man from before was waiting for them and after a quick "Follow me" he turned and led them back inside the base, down several corridors and into the mess.

"Alright, we've got a whole heap of sandwich's left over from lunch here" Coric said holding up a plate to them.

"Oh, umm that's alright" Anakin replied "I don't like sand"

Coric froze and stared at Anakin for a moment and his shoulders seemed to shake before he shook his head.

"Well, there's a buffet of sorts over there" he said pointing at the opposite wall "It's mainly meat though"

Ahsoka's eyes lit up at that

"Do you have any raw meat?" she asked.

"Uhm... We have a barbie so you could probably ask for some raw meat there" he said, confused as to why she'd want to eat raw meat.

"Awesome" she said, flashing him a smile that revealed her pointy canines. That made him remember that Togruta were carnivores.

She dragged her master off to get some food, while he asked something about a plastic doll that made Coric shake his head even more and commed Rex.

"Sir, their general is dumb as rocks"

"I doubt that, Coric," Rex said "He must have some brains if they made him a general"

"Well, he's not using it. He assumed sandwiches had sand in them and didn't know what a barbie is"

"He might just be ignorant about food. Still, he didn't seem nearly as bad as I assumed he would be. And his apprentice was apparently under the impression that they were fighting against slavery. I want to know her logic behind that, and if she can back up that claim about the separatists supporting slavery as well. With facts, not with republic propaganda. Send her over after lunch. I want to talk to her. Alone."

"Yes Sir. Comm me when you're ready to talk to her, I'll stay with them to keep an eye on them"

"Good." Rex said before hanging up. Coric followed General Skywalker and his apprentice to the barbie.

"Look at it all" Ahsoka exclaimed in delight as they approached the Barbie.

She grabbed a plate and quickly piled it high with meat before taking a seat at a nearby table, Anakin joined her after he'd got his own more modest portion.

They didn't say anything when Coric joined them and continued eating in silence.

When they'd finished Coric stood up and spoke into his comm, before turning to Ahsoka.

"The Captain would like to speak with you" he said to her and she stood as well.

"Alone" he added when Anakin also got up.

She felt a flare of anger from Anakin.

"I'll be fine" she said over their bond and Anakin sat back down, not looking happy but grudgingly accepting what she said.

"Fine" he muttered "Be careful what you say" he added over the bond "we don't know his motivations yet"

Ahsoka nodded and followed Coric back to Rex's office.

The captain was still sitting in his chair. He motioned for her to sit down

"I'll get right to the point," he said, before she could even speak "Do you have proof that the separatists practice slavery as well?"

"Not right now. But we did have to free a colony of Togruta from the Zygerrians, and they had an alliance with the separatists. Count Dooku himself showed up. I can get you the mission report if that helps?"

"No, it won't. I didn't know the Zygerrians were separatists as well. But still, how can you pretend to be against slavery when you lead a clone army?"

"Honestly, I doubt we could do anything about the clones' situation. Though I've thought about it. A lot."

The captain tilted his helmet at that, so she kept talking "But if we stopped sending them to war, the Kaminoans would kill all the cadets as soon as the Republic stops paying them. If the Jedi left the war, someone else would lead them. Probably Republic officials who think the clones are expendable. We know what most senators say about them. Anything but leading them ourselves and trying to deflect as many blasterbolts as we can is likely to make things worse for the clones"

Rex considered it for a moment. The explanation she gave did add up with both the "Jedi are supposed to be compassionate" speech he had gotten while on Kamino and the reality.

"Do you have proof that you guys are actually protecting the clones?"

"Yeah, can you give me your comm frequency? I'll send you the link to a video Fives put on HoloTube"

Rex considered it for a moment, but then he held up his comm with the "Sync contacts" function on. After they exchanged contact info, she immediately sent him the link. The preview showed the title of the video ("Dumb sh*t our General does") and was uploaded by someone named "ARCTrooperFivesTheMagnificent".

"I'll watch it in a bit. Meanwhile, you should tell your master that I'll consider this alliance... If he gives me all the clones so I can ensure they're freed afterwards"

"Alright then" Ahsoka said, standing "I'll tell him"


	2. Chapter 2

As she walked out the door she glanced back and saw Rex staring at her. Feeling slightly flustered she hurried back to Anakin and told him what Rex had said.

When she'd finished Anakin shook his head.

"There's no way the senate or the Chancellor will agree to that" he said and Ahsoka sighed.

"I know" she replied "But those are his terms"

"I'll go talk to him" Anakin said, before turning to Coric "Can you take me to him?"

Coric nodded and led Anakin back to Rex's office.

The man was watching a compilation of some guy jumping off a cliff. When Anakin got closer, he noticed that it was him.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

"Irrelevant," Rex said "have you considered my terms?"

"I have," Anakin said as the video thankfully ended "but I'm not sure if I can comply with them"

"Just as I had predicted" Rex scoffed.

"It's not that I don't want them to be free," Anakin quickly added "But I don't have the authority to do so. I don't own the clones. The Republic does. If I did they'd be free already."

"What's stopping you from freeing them now?"

At that, Anakin decided he had to be honest. He rubbed his comm, knowing that it'd make a static on the recording to hide what he said.

"I let them leave if they want to desert. I help them fake their deaths during the next battle. Every single man in my battalion wants to be there"

"If you can prove that to me, I'll take the money instead."

"Sure, how do you want me to pr-"

At that moment, HoloTube decided that it was time to play the next video.

"Hello bros and nats, ARC Trooper Fives the Magnificent here! Today we're pranking our medic, Kix. As you all know, he-"

Rex turned the hologram off and looked straight at Anakin through his helmet.

"Bring him here, and allow me to question him. Call him now, and until he arrives the both of you will be kept under direct supervision. I don't want you to give him any orders on what to say"

"Very well" Anakin replied after a moment "I'll just return to my ship and give him a call" and he stood up.

"No need" Rex said "You can use this" he added, gesturing to the holocomm on his desk.

Anakin frowned before taking a seat again and Rex switched on the comm and turned it so Anakin could access the controls.

After a minute spent entering encryptions and Fives comm frequency Anakin looked up at Rex.

"Depending on what he's doing right now I might not be able to raise him" Anakin said.

"Then we'll keep trying until you do" Rex stated.

Anakin sighed and pressed the connect button, after a minute the call was accepted and Fives appeared as a small hologram on the desk, wearing only half armour and looking slightly tipsy.

"General!" he exclaimed when he saw who it was "How's the mission going"

"Oh, reasonably well so far" Anakin said and Rex snorted "But there's been a slight hiccup, I need you to come to Aradan as soon as possible"

"Right away General" he said, swaying slightly.

"And get Echo to fly" Anakin added taking in Fives condition.

"Of course General" he said, then he proceeded to fall over as something hit him in the face.

"Kix!, what the kriff" he said to roars of laughter, holding up a pair of underwear "I'm talking to the General"

"I think that will be all for now Fives, comm me when you're in orbit" Anakin said, waiting for Fives's acknowledgement before hanging up.  
  
"I'm sorry for his uhm... current state. I usually let them do whatever they want while on leave, as long as it doesn't go too far"

"And what happens when they go too far?" Rex asked

"I don't know. Usually my captain, Jesse, deals with them. The worst punishment I've ever given was making one trooper clean all the toilets on the resolute and repairing the septic tank alone"

"That's terrible. What made you think that was an acceptable punishment?"

"I know it was harsh. But I wasn't going to stick the maintenance clones with the aftermath of Hardcase flushing a thermal detonator down the toilet, so I let him clean up his own mess. He hasn't done it since"

"...Nevermind. That was lenient. I would have expected him to be reconditioned for that at the very least."

"How do you know that?"

"It's common knowledge" Rex said. "When can I expect Fives to call back?"

"It's at least a few hours until then"

"Okay, then I'm getting some food first."

Anakin nodded and left the office first.

Rex followed him out shortly after and they headed to the mess. When they got there they saw that Ahsoka had started on a second plate of meat and she merely stuck her tongue out at him when Anakin rolled his eyes, getting a chuckle from Rex.

When she'd finished, Rex turned to Coric.

"Can you give them a tour of the base" he said.

"Of course sir" Coric replied, getting up and gesturing them to follow him.

Ahsoka nodded in acknowledgement, but didn’t get up yet. Instead, she just tried to drink her water as fast as possible. Coric waited for her to finish as Rex sat down in front of her. She looked at him, and he looked back

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I’m waiting for you to leave”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No. But I can’t eat with my helmet on, and I can’t take it off in front of you”

“Why not?”

“Uhm... this is the way” he said.

“Oh, you’re one of those Mandalorians. Gotcha. I’ll leave you to it” she said, taking up her plate and leaving to follow Coric and Anakin.

“Snips, I don’t think he’s that kind of Mandalorian” Anakin send across their bond.

“Why not?” She answered, eating in the meantime.

“They usually eat alone because even their clan members aren’t allowed to see see them without helmets. They literally have a mess here, with tables for multiple people. I’m pretty sure he shows his face to the others”

“So what? If he’s not comfortable showing his face to us, we should respect that. Even if it’s just because we need his alliance”

“I wasn’t suggesting that. Just pointing out that he might have other reasons than extreme Mandalorian traditions”

"Maybe" Ahsoka thought back.

"You guys coming" Coric asked.

"Yes, we are" Anakin said, giving Ahsoka a nudge.

She stood and grabbed one last piece of meat before following Anakin and Coric out of the mess.

"We'll start with the hanger" Coric began, and gave them a quick tour of it before moving on to the barracks, then the armoury and training grounds, after that he showed them the warehouses they stored all their supplies in.

"And this here is our farm" he said gesturing to a collection of green houses and paddocks.

"We grow all our fruit and vegetables, as well as the meat you were enjoying"

“I don’t see any animals” Ahsoka said

“Yeah, they have a lot of room” Coric said “they’re probably at the other end of the field, behind that hill”

“Honestly, this isn’t what I had expected of a pirate stronghold”

“How did you expect we’d get our food then?” Coric said, amused.

“Steal it?” Ahsoka offered.

Coric laughed.

“Most of the ships we attack are military vessels. The separatist ones rarely carry food, and the republic ones don’t carry food at all. Just ration bars, but they don’t count as food”

“Understandable.” Anakin said “I personally always try to make sure that my men have something slightly better to eat. Sadly I can’t afford to give them good food, so we have to stick to the cheapest option. So don’t bother stealing our food if the alliance doesn’t happen”

“Don’t worry,” Coric said “the other reason we don’t steal food is because the people carrying it probably need it. We avoid killing where we can”

“Yeah, we noticed you always left our troops alive. That’s why we decided to try asking for an alliance”

“Honestly, the idea is starting to grow on me. My brothers and I just want this war to be over, and if this helps...”

“Oh, you have siblings?” Ahsoka asked “how many?”

"Ahh, a few" he said vaguely, before changing the subject.

"You want to see something really cool?" he asked.

"Sure" Ahsoka replied while Anakin nodded.

"Follow me then" Coric said, heading out of the base and into the forest. They walked for about 10 minutes before Coric signaled them to stop.

Ahsoka looked around but couldn't see anything.

"Down there" Coric said, gesturing to what she'd thought was a large shadow, but looking closer she saw it was a deep hole in the ground.

"Get right up to the edge and look down" Coric instructed.

They did and Ahsoka gasped. Inside the hole led to a vast underground cavern, that was illuminated by thousands of lights of every colour.

"Wow" Ahsoka whispered.

"Pretty cool right?" Coric said with a laugh.

"Yeah" Anakin muttered "I've never seen anything like it"

"Can I go inside?" Ahsoka asked.

"I'm not going to stop you, but I can't see a bottom and I have no idea if we can get you out. So I'd advise against it"

"Yeah, so would I" Anakin said, and then, through the force bond he added "I know they seem nice enough, but we can't rule out that this is a trap"

"Yeah, fair enough" she said, still looking over the edge. At that moment, Fives contacted them.

"General, I'm in orbit. What is our next step?"

"Fives, it's good to hear from you, but you should contact the Jaig Eyes directly and tell them you're one of my men and that Captain Rex has requested to talk to you. You can't talk to me in the meantime, the captain doesn't want me to give you any orders"

"Sir?" Fives asked.

"Yes Fives?"

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Contact the Jaig Eyes and ask to talk to the captain"

"Is that an order? Immediately after you told me not to follow orders?"

Anakin sighed "Fives... Please"

"Just kidding General. I'll leave my tracing device on just in case"

"Thank you, Fives. We'll see you afterwards"

Anakin cut the connection and turned to Coric and Ahsoka. "Maybe we should go back. I want to be close by, just in case"

"Very well then" Coric said and began leading them back to the base.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fives comes over and talks to the captain. He also gets his ass kicked

As they entered the base and walked through it several more Jaig Eyes joined them until there was about a dozen or so following them to the landing pad.

When they arrived there was no sign of Fives's shuttle.

"Coming in on final approach" Coric said before Anakin could ask.

Three minutes later the shuttle came into view, slowly approached the pad and gently settled onto it.

Echo opened the cargo hold, releasing Fives.

Fives looked around and spotted Anakin and Ahsoka, so he walked straight towards Anakin.

"Jare'la Skywalker, sorry, General Skywalker. Where is their captain?"

"Fives, how are you still not sober? It's been hours"

"I didn't know I was supposed to be sober. I'm still on leave, right?"

Echo had just emerged from the cockpit and gave Fives "I told you so" eyes.

"Technically yes" Anakin sighed.

"What does jare'la mean?" Ahsoka asked Fives "I've heard you guys say that a couple times when talking about us in Mandoa"

Ahsoka felt the Mandalorian pirates around her stiffen.

"Take a guess, Commander" Echo said.

Ahsoka thought for a moment. She decided to take this opportunity to tease Skyguy a bit more.

"Did he call Skyguy a reckless idiot with no sense of self preservation?"

The people around her fell even more silent

"I'll bring you to our captain" Coric said, trying to break the silence. When Anakin looked towards Fives and Coric walking off, Echo took the opportunity to sign "affirmative" in the GAR hand gestures to her.

Ahsoka laughed and gave Echo the double finger guns. She then noticed Coric looking at her and Echo while guiding Fives away. He must have seen them gesture at each other, and he probably knew what jare'la meant as well. He felt worried about it.

"Sky, can you show them to the guest quarters?" Coric asked as he left the landing pad.

One of the women nodded.

"Follow me" she said curtly.

They followed her down another set of corridors until she stopped outside one of the doors and opened it.

"Wait in here" she said "The captain will come and see you soon"

They thanked her and entered the room. For a pirate base, it was far better than they expected, it was clean, the beds looked soft and even the furnishings and decorations were nice.

"Well, I guess we wait" Ahsoka said, sinking onto one of the beds with a sigh, it was far better than anything she'd ever slept on before.

"Yes" Anakin replied "I wonder what he and Fives are discussing"

"I'm sure Fives will tell us when he returns" Echo said, taking a seat at the table.

"So, what do you guys wanna do until then?" Ahsoka asked

"I have a new reg manual that I was going to read" Echo said, already pulling out a datapad

Anakin just sighed and sat backwards, but Ahsoka pulled out the card game she had played with the clones before. Anakin nodded and they played in silence for about 15 minutes.

Then, there was a knock on the door. Anakin put down his cards and opened the door. Captain Rex and Fives were standing there.

"I have talked with Fives. I'll make a final decision after I talked this through with the rest of the Jaig Eyes, which will take about two days. In the meantime, the four of you are welcome to stay here"

"That's good to hear. Thank you, Captain"

Rex looked at Ahsoka, and then he realized that he had no idea how to address her. Definitely not first name, and he didn't know her rank.

"What's your apprentice's rank?" he asked Skywalker

"She's a Commander" Fives said. Rex knew that speaking without being asked was against the regs, but Skywalker didn't seem bothered by it at all, just like Fives had told him

"Commander Tano," Rex said "are you comfortable staying here? We have a couple of single women who have a dorm to themselves. If you'd be more comfortable there, I could take you there instead"

"Thanks for the offer, but I'd prefer to stay here" she said

Rex nodded in acknowledgment "very well. I'll leave the four of you alone then" he said as he walked away

"What did he want to talk about?" Anakin asked Fives

"He wanted to know about how you treat us clones. I told him that most of us are happy with you as our general"

"Most? Are some clones unhappy?"

"Yeah" Fives said "I thought that was obvious"

"It wasn't to me. Who is unhappy with me? What can I do to fix it?"

"Kix, and get injured less often"

"Ahh, well I can't make any promises" Anakin replied, grinning as he put two +2's down.

Ahsoka pouted and picked up her cards, eyes lighting up as she saw them.

"Anything else?" Ahsoka asked as she sorted her cards.

"Umm, not really, just asked how we like fighting and a few general questions"

"Oh, ok" Ahsoka said with an evil grin as she placed four +4's onto the deck.

"Take that Skyguy!"

"You-" he spluttered, before force throwing the entire deck at her laughing face.

"I win!" she cackled, as Anakin tackled her to the ground.

She grabbed onto him and flipped him over, and Anakin landed on his back with a loud thud as Ahsoka pinned him down.

Echo just sighed as Fives started filming the fight.

A few moments later, Captain Rex burst into the room.

All four of them looked at him like a deer in the headlights.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"General Skywalker is just being a sore loser again" Echo said.

Rex looked over at the two Jedi on the ground. Ahsoka had just pulled the other Jedi's hand off and was keeping the appendage out of her masters reach.

"Don't worry, I've disarmed him" Ahsoka told Rex.

Rex just started laughing, the sound was deformed and metallic through the voice modulator, and then he left.

"Why would he come in like that anyway?" Echo asked.

"He was pretty worried about me" Fives said "He seemed to think the Jedi were mistreating us"

"Well if he's heard of Jedi like Krell it's not surprising" Ahsoka said darkly, while Anakin's arm, which was still connected to him via nervous system implants, squirmed in her grasp.

"Yield" she told him.

"Never" he gasped.

He struggled for another minute before finally conceding.

"Fine, you win this one" he announced, as if he were bestowing a mighty gift upon her.

"Oh, thank you, you're too kind" Ahsoka said sarcastically, helping him to his feet.

"Can I have my arm back now?" he asked.

"I don't know" Ahsoka said thoughtfully "I think I won it fair and square"

"Ahsoka" he said warningly.

"Fine, roll up your sleeve"

He did as she asked and she quickly reattached his arm.

"So, what do we do now? she asked as he gave his arm a once over.

"We wait" he said, sitting down at the table again. "Another round anyone?"

"No thanks" Echo said

"Jedi are all cheaters" Fives said, with his signature shit-eating grin.

"Besides, it's getting late. We should probably get some sleep. and think about our plans for tomorrow" Ahsoka said

"I think we should just try to get to know these pirates a bit better." Anakin said "Making an effort won't hurt our chances with them"

"Yeah, fair" Fives said, already claiming one of the beds and starting to take off his armour.

The others got into beds at well, removing their armour, weapons and/or boots.

"Oh, by the way, their captain seems to like you." Fives said to Ahsoka "Maybe you could use your feminine charm on him"

The only answer he got was the thud Ahsoka's boot made as she threw it at his face

Fives quickly ducked under the blankets to prevent the second boot from hitting him.

* * *

The next morning, the four of them went down to the mess to get some breakfast.

All eyes turned to them as they walked through the door, lingering for a moment before returning to their food.

They grabbed a tray each of the bacon and eggs being served before asking a group of three Jaig Eyes if they could join them at their table.

The red headed woman who they took to be the leader of the group nodded.

Anakin and Ahsoka took seats on the opposite side side of the table and Echo was just about to take the seat next to the woman when Fives all but shoved him out of the way and took it instead.

"Hi, I'm Fives" he said with his signature charm.

"Bo-Katan" she replied with a bemused smirk.

"Nice to meet you" Anakin said as he sat down "I'm Anakin Skywalker, and this is my Padawan Ahsoka Tano. And this is Echo"

"I've heard about you. A lot of mixed stories to be honest"

"How so?"

"We've found Separatist ships that were attacked by your fleet. They always had high casualties on both sides, and all the clones that we found were dead or dying. We all assumed you were terrible to them, until the one survivor we found who actually made it out of our ICU said that you always left the dead in order to pick up the wounded"

"Yeah, of course I do. And what happened to this guy? Who is it?"

"Basis. And he's not living here. He works on one of the farms out in the country side. We're not giving him back though. The GAR would only terminate him, since he lost his legs"

"Can I go see him? I want to know how he's doing. And to apologize for leaving him behind"

"I'll ask him."

They finished the rest of their breakfast in silence, then Bo-Katan stood up.

"You want to train with us today?, I've never gone hand to hand with an Arc before" she asked.

"Sure" Fives said with a grin.

Echo sighed, but got up as well.

Anakin and Ahsoka looked interested as well.

"Meet you in the training area in 30" she said as she left with her squad.

"This should be fun" Fives said, rubbing his hands together with glee.

* * *

"Come on, is that the best you've got?" Bo-Katan taunted.

Fives, who had been knocked flat for at least the twelfth time in the last hour, merely shook his head, too winded to respond.

He got to his feet, then charged suddenly at her throwing a series of rapid punches and kicks at her, which she blocked easily while laughing at him.

"Come on, stop trying to hit me and hit me" she yelled.

Fives blocked her next series of attacks and took a step back assessing the situation, then he smiled and decided to try something unconventional.

Faking a lunge to the right, he twisted to the left and tackled her to the ground, pinning her in place for a moment before she shifted underneath him and threw him onto his back.

He pulled her with him and she ended up on top of him, pinning him to the ground with her fore arm across his throat.

"Not bad" she said, her face inches from his.

"KISS! KISS! KISS!" some of the masked pirates who had been watching started chanting

Ahsoka just kept people out of Echo's way. Echo had agreed to film the fight with his helmet cam after Ahsoka asked him to. He had even put it in HD for her, even though that would mean only two hours of recording time before the datachip was full. A limit they should have almost reached now because it wasn't empty when they started and Fives was being a masochist.

Fives looked up at Bo-Katan, but she immediately got up and turned to the helmeted men.

"Give it a rest boys." she said with mock offence. She still helped Fives up though.

"Can we go again?" Fives asked.

Bo-Katan chuckled "Really? Haven't you had enough by now?"

"Nope."

"Do you have brain damage?" she asked.

"Nah, us clones are made to be sturdy. Especially our heads. We don't need to be born with a crack head like you nats" Fives said as Ahsoka mouthed "Probably" to Bo-Katan.

"Nats are born with what now?" one of the pirates that had been hiding his voice and face asked.

"Babies are born with a cracked head so they fit through the pelvis" Coric said.

"How do you not know that?" Anakin asked.

"I don't exactly remember being born" the man protested.

"It's why you should be careful with baby's heads" Coric advised.

"Well, I don't want to test the limits on how sturdy your skull is" Bo-Katan said to Fives. "Please go to Coric for a checkup and then get some rest"

"Why do I have to see Coric?" Fives asked.

"I'm their medic" Coric said.

"Ah okay. Where did you get a medical license" Fives asked.

"I... Uhm... Don't officially have one. But this is just a check for injuries. I'm not going to operate on you or anything"

"Nah, it's fine. Our medics don't officially have a licence either" Fives said as he left with Coric.

Ahsoka turned to Bo-Katan "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Echo recorded the fight. Is it alright if we make a compilation of all the times you punched him to the ground for his HoloTube Channel and the GAR internal network. We can delete the footage though if you want us too."

No, it's fine. As long as I'm not too recognizable."

"Will do" Ahsoka promised.

"Are you going to ask Fives for permission?"

"We don't have to" Echo said. "The Galactic Data Protection Regulation only applies to people with their own face, since Jango could sue us otherwise"

"Still, it seems like the decent thing to do" Bo-Katan argued.

"Yeah, but also like the worst thing to do when pranking a sibling" Echo said bemused "Do you have any siblings?"

Bo-katan froze.

"I do, but I haven't seen her for a long time" she replied after a while.

Then she turned around and walked away.

"Must be a touchy subject" Echo said.

"Yeah, let's just focus on editing our footage" Ahsoka said

"Actually, I wanted to do it myself. Maybe you could use this time to get close to the captain instead?"

"Why do I have to do that?" Ahsoka asked indignantly.

"He seems to like you" Echo commented.

"Oh, so I'm supposed to use my feminine charms on him?"

"No, that's not what I meant. Just try to make a new friend. Or ally, if that fits better. You know, _the mission_ " Echo said.

"Fine," Ahsoka said. "I'll go talk to him. But it's your fault if this gets awkward"


	4. Chapter 4

She marched off in the direction of the Captains office and knocked on the door.

"Come" he said.

She opened the door and stepped inside.

"Ahh, Commander Tano, what can I do for you?" he asked as she sat down.

"I..um... I thought we could get to know each other better, since we might end up working together" she said.

"I see" he said, standing up "Lets take a walk then"

"Um, ok" she replied.

She followed him outside.

"So how's your training going?"

"It's alright." She said, unsure of how to answer that. She couldn't exactly give an update on how much she had learned since last time.

"Okay. What do you learn?" he asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"Obviously lightsaber forms and other combat related things, but we also learn a lot about meditation, diplomacy and some other force techniques that aren't as well know outside the order, like healing with the force"

"You can do that?" he asked, seemingly surprise

"Well, I can't. Not all Jedi are good at everything. I can do it a little but it's tiring"

"Wouldn't it be worth it to help save your men though?" he asked

"Not really. If you're not a skilled healer, it uses too much energy. I have tried it a few times, but only on minor injuries. The badly injured ones need immediate medical care from an experienced medic. Not from an inexperienced padawan."

"How tiring is it?" he asked, helmet tilted slightly.

"I passed out after treating Hardcase's injuries. He felt really guilty about getting hurt afterwards, and so I told him to be a bit more careful next time"

"Why would you act like it was his fault he got injured?"

"Because it was. This wasn't combat related. This was him holding meat in his hand instead of putting it on the cutting board."

Rex snorted "That's fair"

"My turn now" she said "What made you become a pirate?"

He didn't respond immediately and she thought he wasn't going to when he finally spoke.

"In my previous life, I was little more than a slave, forced to fight for a cause I didn't believe in. So, when the opportunity presented itself my ah... comrades and I left and the only thing really open to us after that was piracy because if our former employers found out we were still around they'd kill us all for daring to leave"

"That's rough" she said sympathetically.

"Yeah, well, at least the Republic would prevent something like that from happening, right?" he said, suddenly sounding a lot more serious.

"Sadly, no. The clone wars is basically eating all their resources, and slavery is a tough one to crack down on. Even defining who is and who isn't a slave is hard"

"I think the definition is pretty clear"

"Most people do. But people still aren't agreeing about the definition of wage slavery for example"

"What's that?" Rex asked

"It's when you're legally an employee, but you're so overworked and underpaid that you can't leave to find a better job. But you're still getting paid and you're not property, so most people think it's not slavery"

"So what's the plan?"

"End the clone wars and then do something about slavery, ideally"

"And what about the clones?"

"Well, um, my master is..... friends with a senator who is working towards giving the clones the rights and freedoms they deserve. So hopefully by the end of the war she gets the bill passed"

"I hope so too" he said quietly.

She gave him a funny look before speaking again.

"I have another question" she said.

"Go ahead"

"Why do you care so much about the clones? You're a pirate"

"Let's just say their plight is similar to my own and I want to help them get out of it"

"Yeah... I can understand that" she said "I do too"

"It's weird that someone like Fives would want to stay." He admitted. "I had assumed he'd been beaten into submission, but he doesn't look like he was forced to say that."

"Yeah, he's hard to beat into submission" Ahsoka joked, before realizing her mistake

Rex looked at her angrily "How would you know that?"

"He's my uhm... unofficial sparring partner. We fought over food once and since then he just steals my food if he wants to fight. He seems to like getting beaten up though. Bo-Katan can confirm that"

Rex seemed to calm down "Yeah, he said that he viewed you as the sister he never had. I didn't know you were referring to that. My apologies"

"That's okay. Do you have any siblings?" she asked, since that seemed like the next logical get-to-know-you question

"Yes" he said, in a tone that said he wasn't going to speak further on the subject.

Touchy subject, she thought.

"Do you have any siblings?" he asked.

"I don't know" she replied "I don't remember my family"

"Do you ever think about tracking them down?" he asked, and she noticed that his voice modulator was sounding... lower somehow. Less natural.

"Sometimes," she admitted "but I don't really know them. And I have my master and my men. And Master Obi-Wan. They are my family."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi? The 212th general?" he asked, sounding surprised even through the now clearly failing modulator

"Yeah," she said. "Is your modulator okay?"

"I think the battery is running out. I'm not used to wearing it around our base, but I have to since you Jedi are here now. We should head back, I need to recharge my bucket"

"Ok" she said and they turned around and walked back the way they'd come.

"Does it really matter if we hear your voice?" she asked.

"Yes, because if you heard it you'd be able to figure out who I was and that would cause all sorts of problems for us" he replied as his modulator died completely.

She froze as his unmodulated voice came out, a voice she'd recognize anywhere, the voice of all her men, a clone's voice.

Rex stopped as well and let out a heavy sigh.

He tapped something on his comm before turning to her.

"We are going to have to have a chat" he said, as several Jaig Eyes with jetpacks landed around them.

"I'm not gonna say anything" she said

They raised their blasters, and she immediately raised her hands.

"To them, I meant. I can keep this a secret"

"Give us one good reason why we should trust you instead of just getting rid of you right away?" one of them snarled

"If you kill me, the Republic will see that as a declaration of war. And they'll send their troops here to attack"

"Is that a threat?" one of the other Jaig Eyes asked. 

"No, it's a warning."

"Why would you keep it a secret?" the first one asked

"It's the right thing to do." she said.

"Yeah, and now the honest answer instead of the Jedi answer?" another pirate said

"I still want to work together, though I understand if you guys don't want to. In that case, we'll leave this planet immediately and just tell the republic you said no. I don't want to start a battle over this" 

Rex sighed.

"I suppose we'll have no choice" he said. "It'd be our best chance. Lower your blasters"

They did as he said and she relaxed slightly.

"Come with me" he said, marching into the base.

She nodded and trailed after him, with the other Jaig Eyes following close behind her.

He walked through the base and entered one of the rooms that she'd been told was a briefing room.

He stepped inside and she followed him. Two of the others stepped inside as well and the rest took up positions guarding the door.

Inside the room, a number of others were also present including Bo-Katan and Coric.

She gave them a smile and stood to the side while Rex moved to the front of the room.

"We have something important to discuss" he said and removed his helmet.

"Sir?" Coric asked.

"My voice modulator failed, she already knows" Rex said. "She said she'd keep this a secret. I doubt we'll have much choice, but I wanted to discuss if you guys agree with this"

Coric took off his helmet as well and sighed, running his fingers through his long hair. "I think we'll have to"

"We can still just kill her" one of the men who had been in the room before they walked in.

"No, that would just cause General Skywalker to attack us" Rex said. 

"Then we kill him too" the man said

"The 501st will probably avenge him" Ahsoka said "And I doubt that will be without casualties"

"Are you sure?" he said "Because I wouldn't have done that for our Jedi. I'd be glad if _he_ died"

"Judging by what Fives told me, the 501st actually likes him." Rex said "And he's not like _him_ , I could tell that much"

"Who is this _him_? Ahsoka asked.

"Krell" Rex said "our former general"

"Krell!" Ahsoka spat "you had Pong Krell as your General?"

"Yes, why? Do you know him?" Rex asked.

"Not personally" she growled "but he took command of the 501st for a campaign and Jesse said he got over half the company killed before they executed him"

"Your men executed him?" Rex asked, shocked.

"After what he did, he deserved it" she said, looking around.

All the Jaig Eyes were looking at her strangely, like she'd said something they couldn't quite believe.

"I can't believe it" Coric said. 

"Fives was there. You can ask him about it if you want more confirmation"

"How did that happen?"

"They refused to die for his stupid plans, and he eventually decided to make them fight the 212th, convincing them that they were enemies wearing clone armour. After that, they arrested him for treason and had him executed before he could escape when the Umbarans attacked again"

"The 212th? Is Cody okay?" Rex asked, panic visible on his face

"Cody is fine. He wasn't with Ghost Company at the time. Do you know him?"

"Yes" he replied "We were batchmates and went through our training together"

"Oh, like Fives and Echo?" she asked.

"Yes" he replied bluntly, and she decided to drop the subject.

"So" she said "what's going to happen?"

The Jaig Eyes all looked to Rex.

He sighed.

"For the time being I think it's in our best interest to form an alliance, but it will be on our terms and they are not negotiable"

"That's fair" she said.

"And I want an official alliance treaty approved by your senate and a pardon of any and all crimes, charges, ectara against us"

"I'll see what we can do"

"And finally, I want you and only you as our liaison with the republic"

"I'd be okay with that, but there is a chance the Republic won't let me do that without my master I'm afraid. They somehow think he's the more responsible one and that I'm just a child"

"If he has to be there, we will tolerate him. But you're the liaison. Can't you talk to the superior officer of whoever thinks that?" Rex asked, clearly irritated at the idea that someone thought Anakin was the responsible one. 

"The chancellor doesn't have a superior officer, sadly" she said apologetically.

Rex just sighed and shook his head 

"Just tell Skywalker about the deal"

"I will"

"Oh, one more thing" Coric said "Make sure we won't have to interact with the other clones too much. The bucket gets sweaty after a few hours"

"Of course" Ahsoka said as she left the briefing room and went straight back to their quarters.

"I got the captain to agree" she said as she opened the door of their quarters"

"How?" Anakin asked

"Feminine charms?" Fives asked, which earned him a punch from Echo.

"That's not important. His conditions are that he wants an official alliance treaty approved by the senate and a pardon for all crimes and charges against them"

"We had assumed that would be the case" Anakin said.

"And I'm supposed to be the liaison" she said

"Kriff, for real?" Fives asked "I was only joking"

"No, not like that" she said, blushing at the implication.

"Are you sure?" Anakin asked.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure"

"Go back and tell him that it's only gonna be a military thing" Anakin ordered.

"Yes master" she said sarcastically, opening the door again and leaving.

She returned to the briefing room where the Jaig Eye's were still discussing the alliance.

"That was fast" Rex commented, when she walked back in.

"Yeah" she said with a grin "he agreed to everything"

"Well, that's good" Coric said.

"Yes it is" Rex replied.

"Now what?" Bo-Katan asked.

"Ahh" she said, having no idea what the plan was if they were actually successful "I'll go talk to my master again"

"Alright" Rex said, giving her a nod as she left again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé arrives.

Back at their quarters, Anakin was in the middle of a holocall with Padmé.

"....I'll be there in about a day" she said in answer to a question she hadn't heard "Hello Ahsoka" she added when she walked into holo range.

"Hey Padmé"

"I was just telling Anakin that I'll be arriving there tomorrow"

"Why? What are you coming to do here?"

"The senate has asked me to make the alliance treaty"

"That was fast, freakishly fast" Ahsoka said

"I know right." Anakin said "And here I was thinking the Republic was incapable of doing anything at a decent pace"

"Well, this is important." Padmé said "Do you have any advice on how to deal with their captain?"

"Yeah, tell him about the clone personhood bill. He'll like that."

"Yeah, he seems to care a lot about the clones" Anakin confirmed "I wonder why"

"He told me he'd been forced to fight against his will, essentially as a slave. He thinks the clones are in the same situation and wants them freed" she said, hoping it was okay to share what Rex had told her before the voice modulator incident.

"I'll keep in in mind. I'll leave now, talk to you later" Padmé said as the hologram flickered out

"Seriously though, how did you get him to talk?" Anakin asked.

"Umm..." she thought for for a moment but couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't give them away.

"Just my charming personality I suppose" she replied.

"Really?" he replied.

"Yes" she said firmly "now if there's nothing else, I'm going to lie down for a bit"

He waved her off and she went over to her bunk and lay down with a sigh, contemplating the days events and wondering how long they could pull it off for.

There were so many things that could give them away, ranging from fitting in too well with the rest, to having familiar looking battle strategies, to the belly button issue.

She might have to warn him about that, she only knew that clones don't have belly buttons because Hardcase decided to get shirtless once when he was drunk, and they didn't know about belly buttons either. So there was a good chance Rex didn't know anything either. That wasn't a conversation she looked forward to, but actively helping him hide the fact that he's a clone would probably help gain his trust.

She also had to make a plan for what to do if they were found out. And get more information about the Jaig Eyes. She should probably talk to Rex after breakfast. 

She felt that Anakin still didn't trust the situation, but he wasn't going to push it now. She should probably inform Rex of that too. Before things get even more awkward.

Still, that was all for tomorrow. Tonight, she should just sleep

* * *

Early the next morning they all headed to the mess to grab an early breakfast before Senator Amidala arrived.

Rex and a few of the others joined them, though the clones didn't remove their helmets.

"Senator Amidala will be arriving in the next couple of hours to formally create the alliance" Anakin told them.

"Really?" Coric asked.

Anakin nodded.

"Excellent" Coric said with excitement, high fiving the man next to him while they looked on in confusion.

Rex saw their confusion and clarified things.

"Senator Amidala is... _respected_ among the boys here" he said "and we have her on all our ships as well"

"Yeah, we'll show you after breakfast" Coric said.

After breakfast they all went down to the hanger and they noticed that every ship there did have Padmé painted on the side, many in rather revealing outfits.

And she had to admit they were really good, all of them captured her fire and the determination she always seemed to project.

Anakin on the other hand wasn't liking it at all and she could barely contain her laughter as her master's ire grew the further they walked along.

"This one's mine" Coric said proudly as they stopped beside one that showed the Senator standing on top of a destroyed SBD in not much more than a cantina dancers outfit.

She could sense that was the final straw for Anakin.

"Remember the alliance" she muttered, when it looked like he was about to explode.

He shot her a dark look but managed to rein in his anger.

Coric suddenly tilted his head like he was listening to something before he turned to them again.

"She's here" he announced.

Anakin practically ran to the landing pad, but Rex, Ahsoka and Coric opted to walk at a normal pace instead

"What's gotten into him?" Rex whispered, his voice modulator cutting out at certain syllables because it wasn't programmed for that volume

"Let's just say he and the senator are... close. Very close" Ahsoka said

"Oh, they're actually friends?" Coric asked, hopefully

"I'm pretty sure they're a bit more than that" Ahsoka laughed.

"Really? I thought Jedi weren't allowed to have attachments" Rex said.

"Yeah... the rules are a bit vague. You're supposed to show unconditional love without getting attached or possessive."

"How does that work with leading an army?" Coric asked 

Ahsoka just shrugged "Those rules aren't made for wars"

"At least you admit it when you don't know something" Rex said

They walked together for a few moments before Ahsoka decided she might as well bring up another relationship issue.

"Oh, speaking of inappropriate relationships..." Ahsoka said nervously "Fives made a stupid joke about how I managed to secure this alliance, and Anakin took it a little too serious. So maybe we should keep that in mind, before we accidentally make him more suspicious"

Rex sighed.

"Sorry" she said "But Anakin doesn't really like that implication. Neither do my men. But they know Fives isn't a reliable source, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Rex nodded "Well, we'll discuss it later. We're at the landing pad"

Ahsoka looked up, the senator's shuttle was on it's final approach and Anakin was practically jumping in excitement.

"He's not doing a good job of hiding it is he" Coric remarked.

Ahsoka sighed.

"No he's not" she replied.

"Is he always like this?" Rex asked.

"Pretty much" she said.

There was a commotion behind them and they turned to see half the Jaig Eyes coming out of the hanger, a couple of them had a banner with the words "Welcome Senator Amidala" along side an image of her posing with a blaster, droids lying destroyed at her feet.

Rex sighed, then turned to Ahsoka.

"She's really popular here" he said as an explanation.

"I never would have guessed" she said with a grin.

They turned back to the shuttle as it began to descend and settled down onto it's landing struts. There was a pause then the ramp descended and the Senator stepped down to thunderous cheers.

Padmé seemed surprised at the applause.

"I'd explain it to her if I were you" Ahsoka told Rex. "and pretend to be oblivious to their relationship"

Rex nodded and walked up to greet the Senator. Ahsoka stayed with Coric, the landing pad was too crowded anyway.

"Do you know her?" Coric asked 

"Yes, she taught me some things about politics and we're friends" she said "But I can talk to her later. And I try to avoid large groups, and she knows that"

"I thought Togruta were usually very communal" Coric said

"Yeah, but they're too loud for my montrals and it'll be even worse coming from all sides"

"Understandable" Coric said

"Can I ask you something?" 

"Of course"

"How many of you are clones?"

"Everyone with a bucket basically. All the other ones married into the Jaig eyes, with a few exceptions. You met Sky, right?"

Ahsoka nodded

"She's my girlfriend" Coric said 

Ahsoka smiled "that's nice"

"Yeah. We were planning on getting married soon. Then she'll officially be part of the Jaig eyes"

"Do you have to marry to become a member?" she asked

"Why, are you interested in joining?" Coric asked, half joking

"No, just curious" Ahsoka said

"Okay. Well, no. It's how it usually happens. But there are exceptions. Bo-Katan joined because she had nowhere else to go. She had a falling out with DeathWatch and Mandalore itself is..."

"A mess" Ahsoka finished "I know"

"You should ask her for the full story, it's not mine to tell. You should probably ask Rex about how we got out of the GAR too, it was all his idea after all"

"I will" she replied "after the Senator is settled"

"Ok" Coric replied "looks like they're heading inside now" he added as the group began to break up, with a small party staying with the Senator as they made their way into the base.

They followed after the group and joined them in the main briefing room.

Inside, all the senior members of the Jaig eye's had gathered, with Rex at the front of the room and Padmé sitting on a chair beside him.

"This should be good" Coric whispered to her as they took their seats "he hates giving speech's"

"Wasn't that part of the training for officers?"

"Yeah, and it's also one of the biggest things that held him back from getting promoted to commander. He always failed this part of the test"

"What test?"

"The one all clones have to do before a promotion. It was part of the paperwork"

Ahsoka just shot him a confused look. She had never seen that happen in the 501st, promotions were just given instantly. Coric shushed her and pointed to Rex who had gotten up.

"Uhm... Attention, people. We are here to welcome Senator Amidala here tto uhn... Sign the treaty. And Such. Thank you"

Rex got off the stage right waay to give Senator Amidala the stage and he snuck back off the stage. 

Ahsoka looked at Rex through the force, and she could tell that he was embarrassed.

"He's really nervous about this" she noted. "His force signature all flustered"

Coric tilted his bucket at her.

"It's the same thing as looking at someone, but with the force. It works through armor too, which makes it really easy to tell clones apart."

"Oh so you Jedi can tell us apart?" Coric asked

"Yeah, what made you think otherwise?" she asked

Coric mumbled something under his helmet, which seemed to include the word "Krell".

Ahsoka just nodded in agreement, since she didn't want to talk about that painful subject if they didn't initiate it.

Rex came up to them again as Padmé started her speech.

"That went well" Ahsoka said

"I don't need your flattery" Rex said. "We all know that was a terrible introduction"

"Yeah, but if you put on your captain voice she might have suspected something" Ahsoka said "This was very convincing as a natural born"

"Thanks. I guess." Rex sighed.

"You're welcome" Ahsoka smiled.

Rex's helmet turned slightly towards her and she could tell he was looking at her so she widened her smile and felt him smile in response.

"Get a room you two" Coric teased.

Rex stiffened and she felt irritation build up in him as he turned to glare at Coric.

She turned to glare at him as well, feeling her face heat up at the accusation.

But before they could give Coric a piece of their minds, polite applause erupted throughout the room.

They turned to see that Padmé had finished her opening speech and was walking towards them.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, shall we get down to business?" she said as she reached them.

"I think that's a very good idea" Rex replied, with one last look at Coric.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The treaty gets signed and Fives gets a little ahead of himself.

The signing of the treaty was surprisingly normal, considering none of the Jaig Eyes were diplomats. However, Padme was able to take charge and it all went off without a hitch and they had come to an agreement on all the details after a few hours of negotiating.

After all of it was finalized, Rex had announced that they'd have yet another BBQ that evening in celebration and retreated to his quarters while the men who where allowed near food (according to Coric, Rex was banned from even being close to the food since he burned spaghetti once) started cooking. Ahsoka had offered to help out, but they had refused, claiming it was probably not gonna be a lot of help and that they got this. 

"How are you going to hide your faces?" she asked one of the Jaig Eyes who was helping set the tables

"We're going to put you Republic people back in the main tent with Rex, who'll eat in advance. We'll just pretend to be that kind of mandalorian"

Another clone came up to her, and he stood there for a moment, trying to decide if he should stand at attention. Old habits die hard apparently.

"What is it?" she asked, biting back the "trooper" she wanted to say out of habit.

"The Captain wants to speak with you in his quarters"

"Oh, okay. Tell him I'll be right there"

The man nodded and returned to what he was doing.

Ahsoka turned and left the mess, heading to where she knew Rex's quarters were, wondering what he could want her for.

When she reached his door, she paused for a moment before knocking.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Chancellor Palpatine" she replied sarcastically.

"Ahh" was the response.

The door opened a crack and Rex's eye appeared at the opening.

"You wanted to see me" she prompted.

"Yes, I did. Come in" he said opening the door wider and stepping back.

As she walked inside she couldn't help but notice he looked rather nervous.

"Are you alright?" she asked as he beckoned her into a seat and sat across from her, fidgeting. 

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You look nervous"

"I had a talk with Fives"

"Oh? About what?" she asked, tilting her head.

"About us. Can I be blunt here?"

"Yeah, I prefer just getting to the point"

"Fives threatened to kill me if I hurt you"

Ahsoka raised and eye marking at him. "That's odd. I mean I know he would, the men have made it very clear that they're more than willing to beat up anyone who hurt me, but they never went up to someone to threaten them unprovoked. Did he say why he was threatening you?"

"Yeah, it was because he was suspicious about me wanting to talk to you alone"

"So you decided to talk to me alone to sort that out?" she teased

"Very funny. He'll have to get used to it. I still don't fully trust Skywalker or the other Jedi."

"Why do you distrust my master?"

"It's not distrust, per se..." Rex said, avoiding her eyes. "It's more of a needing more time issue"

"Makes sense." she agreed. "And my master is not the most diplomatic Jedi"

"He's the second most diplomatic Jedi I ever met" Rex joked

Ahsoka snorted. "Who's the most diplomatic Jedi you ever met then?"

"You, obviously" he said casually.

"Me?" she asked.

"Well, I only met three so it's not like that's a huge achievement" he said, smirking.

She rolled her eyes at him playfully, but then she wondered something.

"Do you trust me?" she asked, nervously.

"Ahh, yes" he said hesitantly.

She gave him a disbelieving look.

"I do" he added hastily "I just... never thought I'd say that about a Jedi again" he admitted.

"Oh, well, thanks I guess" she said, not really sure what else to say.

"You're welcome" he said with a grin, making her smile as well.

An awkward silence followed that statement, with neither of them quite sure what to say next.

"I guess we should head back" she said eventually "Otherwise they'll wonder what we're up too"

"Good idea" he replied and he opened the door for her and followed her out.

They walked back to the tent in companionable silence and Rex held the flap aside for her as she stepped inside.

"Thanks" she said as she looked around.

Fives caught her attention almost immediately, staring at her from a table near the centre and when Rex followed her in, his eyebrows rose and he wiggled them suggestively.

She felt her face heat up and glared back at him, which only made his smirk widen.

"Excuse me" she muttered "I need to have a talk with Fives"

Rex nodded and she stomped over to Fives.

"Fives, you really need to cut that out." she hissed.

"Why? Am I onto something?" He asked, grinning at her.

"No, of course not. And even if you were, that kind of relationship is against the Jedi code."

"No, it's not." Fives said. "Attachments are, you can just keep it casual. "

"Fives!" she exclaimed indignantly.

"What? Besides, I'm pretty sure that part of the code isn't supposed to be taken seriously" 

"It is" she argued. "We Jedi are supposed to not let our personal feelings get in the way of doing the right thing"

"Right, and we clones are supposed to all look the same and not have names" he said, stroking his beard and pointing at his tattoo for emphasis.

"That's different," she said "Attachment like that get in the way of doing your duty as a Jedi"

"Does General Skywalker think so?"

She rolled her eyes. "Those stupid jokes of yours are actively endangering this mission. If you don't cut this out, there will be more drastic consequences."

"Oh... You're gonna make me clean the toilets again?" Fives teased.

"No, much worse." Ahsoka threatened. She could feel the other clones in the mess tent get more nervous. Even Rex was a little on edge.

"Well, good." Fives joked "I was already on latrine duty."

"You're scrubbing the entire main hangar with a toothbrush if you don't stop the stupid teasing." 

Fives leaned back in shock. "For real?" he asked "I thought they only did that in bad movies?"

"I may have gotten the idea from there." she admitted. "But be warned. If you keep this up, you will be scrubbing that hangar."

"Okay, I'm sorry." Fives said. "I didn't know it bothered you that much"

"Just don't do it again. I was serious with that threat" she said. "And you should apologize to Captain Rex."

"I will" he said as she walked away.

She sighed made her way back to Rex but was intercepted by Padmé.

"Everything alright?" Padmé asked.

"Fine" Ahsoka replied with a strained smile.

Padmé just gave her an unbelieving look.

"I'd rather not talk about it here"

"Alright, why don't you come by my quarters later and we can talk"

"Okay" Ahsoka smiled.

Rex came over and joined them.

"Senator, we have you at the main table over here" he said.

"Okay, thank you Captain" Padmé said, with one last smile at Ahsoka before following the Captain over.

She decided not to follow them, partially because she didn't want to distract them from getting to know each other a little better, and partially because she could smell the BBQ. She went outside to get some food.

She noticed Echo standing at he back of the line. She quickly joined him. 

"How's my favourite domino doing?"

"I'm doing well. What did Fives do?" Echo asked.

"Take a guess" she sighed.

"Implied that you were sleeping with their Captain?"

"And threatened him over it" she grumbled.

"He's just trying to protect you"

"He's endangering the mission and I can protect myself. Not that I'd have to"

"I mean, he's a pirate" Echo said. "They seem decent, but you can't blame Fives for being suspicious."

"I suppose" she sighed. "Why did we invite him and not Jesse?"

"Our captain is too busy with the 501st." Echo argued "Plus, their captain requested him specifically"

"His biggest mistake so far" she said.

"You can't talk about Captain Rex like that" one of the Jaig Eyes, probably a clone, said.

"I didn't mean it like that" she sighed "I just meant that Fives is the last person you'd want on a mission like this"

"I don't know" the Jaig Eye said and she could sense he was smiling "Keeps things interesting"

She turned around to glare at him, it only made his smile broaden so she turned back to Echo, muttering darkly.

They got their food and took a table to themselves, eating in silence.

She finished her plate then stood.

"I'm gonna head back to our room" she told Echo "I need to meditate for a bit"

"Okay Commander" Echo replied, eyeing the BBQ.

She walked quickly back to their quarters and locked the door behind her, not wanting to be disturbed.

Then she settled into a meditative position and relaxed into the force.

How long she stayed like that she didn't know but she was interrupted by the chiming of her commlink.

"Ahsoka here" she answered.

"Hey, it's Padmé" Padmé's voice said "Are you free to come by my room at the moment?"

"Of course" she replied "I'll be right there"

"Great, see you shortly" Padmé said, before ending the call.

Ahsoka stood with a sigh and left the room and five minutes later found herself outside the Senator's door.

She knocked and received a "Come in" so she opened the door and stepped inside.

Padmé was reclining on her bed, shoes off and looking far more relaxed than Ahsoka had ever seen her.

"Sit down, take your boots off" Padmé smiled and once she'd perched herself on the end of the bed Padmé sat up.

"So, what seems to be the trouble?" she asked.

"Long story short, Fives thinks there's something going on between me and their Captain, and it's getting annoying."

"Well, he does seem to like you." Padmé said. "Maybe he's just trying to be protective."

"No," Ahsoka said "Fives is actually encouraging it. At least, that's what it looks like at times"

"Ah, alright. Rex seems to respect you and talked a bit about you, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing. You're probably too young for him anyway." Padmé said

"How old do you think he is?" she asked 

'I mean, I don't know, but I assume he's over 30"

Ahsoka laughed "He's not." 

"How would you know?" 

"Uhm... Don't tell anyone I told you this, but I saw his face. He's definitely younger than you. But he doesn't want anyone to see his face. I only saw it by accident. So don't mention this to anyone."

"Alright" Padmé promised, then her look turned speculative "So... is he cute?"

"What!?" Ahsoka almost shrieked, face blushing.

"So he is cute" Padmé grinned.

"No" she retorted, face going even darker.

"How cute?" she asked.

"Alright, he's cute, but that should be irrelevant" she argued "Why do you care anyway?"

"Just in case you need someone to talk to." she said innocently.

"It would be against the Jedi code anyway"

"Yeah, wouldn't want to have to explain that to Anakin" she teased

Ahsoka raised a brow marking, wondering if Padmé was hinting at her and her master's "secret", but she didn't give any more implications.

"Does he know that you saw his face?" Padmé asked breaking the silence. 

"Yeah, he saw me. We talked it out, and he decided to trust me with it."

"Yeah, he did seem to trust you. That's why I'm not dismissing Fives' idea right away. That, and Anakin told me he's very perceptive"

Ahsoka sighed. "Do you really think he's interested in me? Because I never got that impression"

"I'd have to see you two interact more before I can decide that" Padmé said and Ahsoka sighed again.

"But enough about that for now" Padmé continued "How've you been, it's been too long since we've actually seen each other"

"Great" Ahsoka smiled, relieved at the change of subject "We've been through two campaigns and I had to save Anakin in both of them" she grinned and Padmé rolled her eyes.

Ahsoka told Padmé all about their last two campaigns and Padmé told her what she'd been up to, until they noticed how late it was.

"I should go back to my... well, our quarters" she said, remembering that she shared quarters with Anakin, Fives and Echo.

"Alright." Padmé said. "I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting then? We're going to figure out the details of the allegiance with Captain Rex"

"Yes, see you tomorrow" Ahsoka said.

As she made her way back to her quarters, she ran into Anakin going the opposite direction.

"Skyguy, where are you going?" she asked

"Uhm... Late night walk" he said "Just go to sleep Snips."

"I was going to." she said, rolling her eyes. 

When she got to their shared room, Fives and Echo were already asleep. She just slipped under the covers, wondering what tomorrow's meeting would bring.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Republic has intel on a slaver fleet, and the Jaig Eyes move out to deal with them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I (Tabby) made a redesign for Rex. It's on [my tumblr here](https://cuteshinymew.tumblr.com/post/628776215718789120/so-i-made-a-redesign-for-rex-in-the-pirate-au) (it's bigger there) but here it is for if you don't wanna click  
> 

The next morning they all met in the mess and were just sitting down to breakfast with Bo-katan and her friends when Anakin's comm chimed.

He frowned and pulled it out, glancing at the caller id.

"Obi-wan" he muttered accepting the call.

They all stopped eating to watch as Obi-wan's holo appeared.

"Master" Anakin greeted him.

"Anakin" Obi-wan nodded "How goes the negotiations?"

"Pretty well done, a few details to iron out, but otherwise it's official."

"That's good to hear" Obi-wan replied "Because we've just received reports that a slaver fleet is heading for Ryloth and we don't have any forces close enough to help in time"

Anakin's expression darkened.

"I'll talk to the Captain, but I'm sure he'll be keen to help"

"Good, because otherwise hundreds of Twi'lek's will end up enslaved or worse" Obi-wan said, before ending the call.

Anakin frowned at the place the holo had vanished for a moment before looking up at the others.

"I've alerted the Captain" Bo-Katan told him "He'll be here shortly"

"Thank you" Anakin said before turning to his people "Ahsoka, you Echo and Fives finish up here and get ready to leave, I'll talk to Rex and see how quickly his people can be ready to depart."

They nodded and quickly downed the remains of their breakfast.

"We're not used to moving out like this" Bo-Katan said "We usually just prepare for a longer journey and fight whatever we run into."

"Then Echo and Fives should help them. Getting prepped quickly is something the clones were trained to handle. Ahsoka, pack their stuff too." 

"I don't think that's a good id- Never mind." Ahsoka said.

"Make sure to pack my socks!" Fives teased.

"I'll ask Coric for advice on how to handle hazardous medical waste" she teased before running off.

Echo and Fives also ran off, then Rex came running towards him.

"What is it?" Rex asked.

"We found a ship full of slavers heading to Ryloth. We thought you wanted to know and do something about it"

"Yes, of course. Will the Republic be able to assist?" Rex asked.

"No, we don't have any troops nearby. I thought this would be a good way for us to see how you normally uhm... operate."

"Well, we're not used to having to depart like this," Rex said "I appreciate your effort. But I'm in charge today"

"Of course," Anakin said "Why would I be when these are all your men?"

Rex nodded, then tilted his head as if he was listening to something, then he nodded sharply.

"Yes, pack the heavy weapons, we don't know what we'll be going into," he said to whoever he was talking to, "And we'll need the Jaig Hunter too, just in case" he finished.

"Jaig Hunter?" Anakin asked.

"One of our modified freighters, we use it for boarding actions"

"Ahh okay" he replied.

"How are you looking to participate in this?" Rex asked, continuing to give orders over his helmet comm.

"Ahh... Well our ship isn't really designed for combat so I was hoping we could tag along with you" he said.

"Hmm... I think we can work something out" Rex said after a moment of thought "Meet me in the hanger and I'll assign you to a ship."

Then he turned and marched out, followed by Bo-Katan and the several others.

"Bring Commander Tano and the ARC troopers as well" Rex added just before leaving

Anakin nodded and commed them, then made for the hanger.

A few minutes later, he reached it. It was full of GAR fighters, and a few modified freighters, a few gunships (also Republic) and a few miscellaneous ships.

Ahsoka, Echo and Fives came running up to him. "So, what's the plan General?" Fives asked

"I don't know. Rex is in charge. He told us to meet him here"

"I'm here." Rex said, coming out of a freighter that Anakin assumed was the Jaig Hunter.

"So... What are we going to do?" Ahsoka asked

"I'm unsure" Rex admitted. "Are any of you pilots?" 

Ahsoka, Anakin and Fives raised their hands.

"Put your hand down, di'kut!" Echo hissed.

"I did fine on Umbara."

"You almost got executed for that."

"That was because I disobeyed Krell's orders" Fives argued.

"Fives, now is not the time for that" Ahsoka told him, but Anakin already felt the mood sour all around him. 

Ahsoka ignored the noticeable shift in the force, and turned to Captain Rex 

"I think it's better if I stay with Fives to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"I can watch my idiot brother" Echo said.

"No, I agree" Rex said "Commander Tano, you and Fives should come with me to join the boarding party. General Skywalker, do you want to join us as well or would you you prefer to join the pilots?"

"Ahh, I think I'll be more use in a cockpit," he said "Ahsoka and Echo can handle themselves and they'll keep Fives in line," he added with a smirked.

"Alright then," Rex said "Head down to the fighters over there and Coric will set you up with something."

Anakin nodded.

"Be good, Snips" he said as he walked away.

"Try not to crash this time" she shot back.

"Hey, it's me" he replied.

"That's what worries me," she said.

Anakin just laughed and kept walking.

"Alright," Rex said once he was gone "We're going in on the Jaig Hunter so prep your gear and get aboard, we leave in thirty minutes."

"Don't have to" Ahsoka said.

"What do you mean?" Rex asked "Aren't you gonna put on armour?"

At that, Fives started laughing and to Rex's surprise, Echo joined. 

"Did I say something wrong?" Rex asked

"Yeah," Fives said "You said Jedi and armour in the same sentence"

"General Skywalker wears armour" Rex argued

"No he doesn't" Fives said.

"Well, he has shoulder armour." Echo said "But the robes aren't even up to the very lax Jedi standards."

Rex just looked at Ahsoka, tilting his bucket.

"We're supposed to wear non-flammable fabric, just to make sure we won't catch on fire if you accidentally touch your robes with a lightsaber" Ahsoka told him "But he wanted to disobey the rules."

"Kix says that his robes are toxic enough to put him on a ventilator permanently if he inhales the fumes if he ever catches on fire" Echo said.

"When" Fives corrected.

"If you have any plans, I wouldn't discuss them in front of the Jedi" one of the Jaig Eyes said to Fives in mando'a as he walked by.

"I don't have any plans to set him on fire" Fives answered in basic. 

"Keep out of it, Slick" Rex said "I know you don't like the Jedi, but try to be civil."

"CIVIL?" Slick spat "After what they did to me???"

"Slick, now is not the time. Besides, they provided us with valuable intel on the slaver fleet we're about to attack"

"What about what they did to your brother?" Slick said "What they're still doing? And Skywalker's almost direct involvement in that?"

"Slick, leave now. That's an order." 

"You're picking the Jedi over me?" Slick spat.

"No. But you're talking too much in front of them. Echo, Fives. Would you please escort him back to base? Take him to barracks 23, and tell the people there that he's off the mission."

"Alright" Echo said, and he and Fives walked the disgruntled pirate back to base.

"I'll explain that inside if you want to" he offered.

Ahsoka nodded and they went inside the Jaig Hunter.

Rex closed the door behind them and took of his bucket, since they were alone now.

"Slick was part of the 501st. He never told us how he deserted, but he made his feelings about General Skywalker clear after he found out we were dealing with him. He won't tell us any details, but he deserted during the battle of Christophsis, and said that my brother Cody tried to send him back to Kamino. Do you know what happened?

"No," she said "Only that they desperately needed reinforcements afterwards, but instead they got me"

"Hmm, something to discuss later then," Rex said, putting his helmet back on and heading into the crew compartment.

She followed after him and took a seat beside Bo-Katan, while Rex continued on into the cockpit.

"Excited?" Bo-Katan asked, as she fastened her restraints.

"A little," she admitted as she leaned back into her seat.

"Nothing I enjoy more than hunting slaver scum," Bo-Katan continued.

"Whys that?" Ahsoka asked, and felt her close up.

"A bad experience a few years," she said guardedly.

"Ahh," Ahsoka said and let the matter drop.

A couple of minutes later, Echo and Fives returned, dropping into the last remaining seats across from her.

"All present and ready to launch," Bo-Katan announced, receiving a confirmation from Rex.

Then the engines fired up and the freighter lifted off the ground and eased out of the hanger.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The attack on the slavers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We had to change the rating to T for this chapter

A few minutes later, she felt the signature jolt that meant they had made the jump to Hyperspace.

"So... what do you want me to do?" she asked Rex.

"Just stay behind us like you usually do" he told her.

"I'm usually in front" she told him.

"Why would they put a Jedi in front?" Bo-Katan asked.

"So she can't accidentally reflect a blasterbolt into our backs" Fives joked.

"That was one time, and two years ago"

"I never recovered from the injury"

"That's your own fault for picking at your scabs" Ahsoka told him.

Echo turned to Rex. "He wasn't hurt in any serious way. She hit him in the back from far away and he fell forward and scraped his wrist. The scar isn't even noticeable. But it will be easier for her to protect us if she's in front"

"Alright," Rex said "If you're okay with that, I'll let you get in front during combat. But follow me when we're not in combat. I'm in charge here, and I don't want the men to think I've given command to you."

"Of course" she said "Besides, I want to see how you normally function, remember? Just don't get to close behind me."

"You can't tell our Captain what to do" Bo-Katan said.

"I know" she said "But it's easier to deflect blasterbolts if you don't have to avoid hitting the person directly behind you. I thought it'd be better if you guys didn't find that out the hard way."

"Thanks for the info." Rex said. "We're dropping out of hyperspace. The Jaig hunter will attach itself to their docking port with the cargo bay entrance. That way, we can easily bring in what we're stealing."

"And what are we stealing?" Ahsoka asked.

"Depends on what they have" Rex said as they dropped out of hyperspace.

"We'll free any slaves they have and take any of their gear that is any good, along with their ships if they're still space worthy," he continued, as Ryloth appeared before them.

"What about prisoners?" Ahsoka asked.

"We don't take slavers prisoner," Rex said simply, and she got the message.

"I have the enemy," the pilot announced and they all moved forward to try get a look at it.

"Looks like a heavy freighter," Ahsoka said, looking at the sensor readout.

"Yeah, with a lot of shuttles," Rex added, indicating a cloud of smaller craft around the larger ship, which broke away and headed for the planet as he spoke.

"Alright, battleplan," he announced suddenly. "All fighters engage those shuttles. Destroy or force them down before they can take any slaves."

He got various confirmations back, including her Master's.

"Rev, bring us in as close as you can, disable their engines, then attach to their docking port."

"Copy that Captain," Rev replied, firing the thrusters and moving to engage the slaver's ship.

When they were almost in attack range the slavers spotted them and tried to flee, but they were no match for the Jaig Hunter.

Rev quickly ran them down and disabled their engines with his Ion cannons, then moved up beside it and attached them to the side of the slavers ship.

"Prepare to board!" Rex ordered, pulling on his helmet and heading for the boarding airlock. Ahsoka followed after him.

The rest of the Jaig Eyes made room for them around the door they'd be boarding through.

"You ready for this?" Rex asked her quietly as Bo-Katan engaged the airlock overrides.

"Yes" she said as the door opened.

"Then follow me" he said as he made his way through the door.

When they entered the ship, the hall was empty.

"Which way should we go, Captain?" Bo-Katan asked

Rex hesitated for a second, but Ahsoka didn't. 

"To the right" she told them.

"What?" Bo-Katan asked "You can't order us around."

"The slavers are that way" she said. 

"How can you tell?" she argued.

"I'm a Jedi. There are no slaves on board in case you wanted to know."

"Are you sure?" Rex asked.

"Yes, no one on this ship feels like they have been captured or are being held here against their will. They all feel like slavers.

"Wait, you can tell that?" Bo-Katan said.

"Jedi" Fives shrugged as Rex started moving down the corridor.

"I didn't know they were that useful" one of the other Jaig Eyes said as they all followed their captain to the front of the ship.

"Well, you never fought with one before" Echo said "there's a reason we like having them around"

Rex stopped dead in his tracks as they ran into several Zygerrians with blasters.

Ahsoka jumped in front of him, deflecting the first shot.

Then she rushed forwards, deflecting bolts back into the slavers as she ran.

Two went down and the survivors retreated further into the ship, sealing the hatch behind them.

"They've obviously never met us before," Fives said as he ran up behind her, smirking by the sound of it.

"Yeah, they won't know what hit 'em," Ahsoka smirked back, raising her lightsaber to cut through the door.

"Oh, you don't mind do you?" she asked, as Rex Joined her and Fives.

"Not at all," Rex replied "It's easy enough to replace a hatch."

"Great," she smiled, plunging her lightsaber through the door as the sounds of more fighting came from where Bo-Katan and her troops had gone.

She made quick work of the door and after a nod to the others, force pushed it into the room beyond and charged through.

Inside were almost two dozen slavers, taking cover in what appeared to be the bridge and extended crew quarters.

They all opened fire as they burst in, but she easily deflected the hail of bolts as Fives, Rex and the rest of his men followed her through.

The Zygerrians were all dressed in the same armour she recognized from Zygerria. There was one larger, unarmed Zygerrian who was being guarded by the rest, their leader.

Ahsoka rushed forward with her force enhanced speed, taking down both the guards before jumping their leader as Rex stared at her, awestruck.

Sadly, she'd misjudged that one. The leader had not been unarmed, he had an electro-staff that he drew quickly and deflected her attack. He was also faster than he looked, and rammed the staff underneath her ribs.

She collapsed to the ground instantly, the pain blinding her as she waited for the next stab, but it never came. 

She opened her eyes and the Zygerrian was crumbling to the ground, a blastershot through his skull. The shooting died down as the Jaig Eyes killed the last of the slavers.

"Ahsoka, are you okay?" Rex asked.

"I'm fine" she lied. "It's just a scratch."

Her side was still hurting with every breath she took, but she could push through it.

"No, you're not," Rex said "You're need a medic." 

"I'm fine." she said, getting up but stumbling a bit. 

Rex immediately wrapped his arm around her, supporting her. "We're going to see the medic, right now."

"No, Kix will kill me," she protested.

"No, we're taking you to Coric. Kix isn't here" Rex told her.

"I'll go with her" Fives said "She's completely out of it."

"Me too," Echo said "General Skywalker might actually get worried over this one."

"It's not even bleeding" Ahsoka argued.

"It's cauterized," Rex said "But it's a big wound. Let's go."

He started half dragging her towards the Jaig Hunter, and she didn't protest.

On the way there Bo-Katan came up to them.

"Ship is secure," she reported, then noticed Ahsoka's condition "What happened to her?"

"Electro-staff to the chest," Rex answered as they carried her past "Where's Coric?"

"Already on board, Stark took a shot in the side that went through his armour"

"Damn, any other injuries?" Rex asked.

"Nope, aside from her, the operation went off without a hitch"

"Good, secure the ship, we'll get her sorted, then I'll check on the fighters," Rex said.

Bo-Katan nodded disappearing into the cockpit, followed, surprisingly, by Echo after he excused himself, and they continued on to the Jaig Hunter.

* * *

"Oh dear," Coric said, when they reached him "What happened?"

"Electro-staff," Rex said, as he and Fives carefully laid her down, but not carefully enough to prevent a pained gasp from her.

"I'm fine" she protested. 

"I don't think General Skywalker would agree with that" Rex told her.

Fives just snorted at that. 

"I'm gonna have to apply a bacta patch and you'll have take it easy for a while" Coric told her. 

"Okay that's not too bad" she said.

"I'll have to cut you out of your clothes," Coric said "Do you want me to send those two away?"

"It's fine if they stay," she said "Unless I need to take my bra off too."

"We'll see. I can't tell how big the injury is now," Coric said as he started taking apart her dress. The burnt fabric came off easily enough, since it's a natural fibre.

"That's... better than I expected," Rex said.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly.

"I meant the injury," Rex said.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll need to strip you down any more than this," Coric said as he started cleaning the wound.

"Do you think this'll get me in trouble with Skywalker?" Rex asked Fives.

"Nah, he knows how she is. He'll just scold her for being reckless and then do something even more dangerous. But he'll be worried about her, so try to be tactful about this" the ARC Trooper advised.

"And done," Coric said as he applied the bacta patch. 

"Thanks," Ahsoka said as she got up, wrapping her hands around herself.

"Are you cold?" Rex asked, unclipping his cape without waiting for an answer.

"A bit," she admitted "But I'll live."

"I can't let you walk around like that" Rex said "Especially not if you're cold."

Reluctantly, she accepted his cape, which was almost the same colour as her battle dress and surprisingly warm.

"Thanks," she said as she wrapped it more tightly around herself.

"You're welcome," Rex nodded, before tilting his head slightly, then turning around and marching out, surprising her.

"What-" she started to ask Coric, but noticed he was standing the way all the clones stood when they were talking or listening to something on their helmet comm and that Fives was looking at him curiously.

After a moment he gave a sharp nod, then turned to her.

"One of the teams found a secure hidden room and none of our sensors can get a read on what's inside it, the Captain was hoping you might be able to help."

"Sure, where are they?" she asked.

"Just aft of the main cargo bay" Coric said.

"Alright, tell him I'm on my way."

Coric nodded as she and Fives left the temporary medbay and headed for the cargo bay.

"I wonder what's inside," Fives said as they walked.

"Only one way to find out," she said as they reached a small group of Jaig Eyes gathered around a hatch that had been hidden with several fake panels.

"Can you feel anything inside there?" Rex asked, making room so that she could get right up to the door.

"Ahh," she closed her eyes and reached out with the force to the room behind the hatch.

And found nothing, not even the hint of force you got from an empty room. Just nothing.

"I can't feel anything at all," she said "It must be shielded against force users."

"That's... concerning," Rex said "What now?"

"I'm curious," she said, drawing her lightsaber "So if you don't mind..."

"No, go ahead," Rex said, stepping back.

"Thanks," she smiled, and plunged her saber through the wall and quickly cut a small door.

Then, she used the force to pull it out and set it down in the corridor.  
Rex then stepped forwards and stuck his head inside, then froze and slowly pulled back and she could feel the anger building in him so she leaned forwards and glanced inside.

Half a dozen scared looking children stared back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and for all your comments and feedback, they really keep us going. : )


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They rescue the children. Sadly, children aren't good at keeping secrets

The children were all different species, and very small. The oldest, one of the Rodians, looked to be around five. The other Rodian looked to be around two. There were three humans as well, all between two and five. And there was a small Togruta, who could not have been older than two, judging by her lack of montrals and lekku. She was the only one asleep. The others just sat there, frozen, a palpable fear emanating off of them.

"Fives, you should leave," Rex said calmly.

"Why? Fives protested.

"I have to take my helmet off for this, and I still don't trust anyone too closely associated with the Republic with seeing my face." he said.

"Oh no, I need to keep an eye on you. You're still a pirate, and I won't leave my Commander alone with you."

"You were okay with it back at base." 

"Yeah, but she's wounded now."

"Fives, Go see if someone else needs your help. I'll be fine," Ahsoka told him.

"But-"

"That's an order," she told him, and he angrily stomped off.

Rex took his helmet off and crouched down in front of the younglings.

"It's okay" he told them "We're here to rescue you"

The younglings didn't feel any less scared.

"I don't think they understand basic" she told him. 

He said something in mando'a, and the smallest human calmed down a little, and made a few noises, but didn't say anything.

"I think that one is mandalorian, but they can't talk yet" she said. 

"What would they want with children this young?" Coric asked.

"I think they're force sensitive," Ahsoka said "They feel strong in the force, and it would explain the container."

"That doesn't really answer the question," Coric said. 

Ahsoka sighed and send calming vibes through the force, causing the children to relax.

"Take them back to base, they're starving," Coric said.

Rex grabbed the Togrutan girl and pulled a clean rag from one of his pockets, and started cleaning her face.

"What are you doing?" Ahsoka asked.

"I'm trying to get those white spots off their face."

"No! Let her go!" one of the boys yelled, running forwards and grabbing the Togrutan girl, who clung tightly to his neck, whispering something, as he retreated back to the others.

Both she and Rex froze as the children huddled closer together, watching them more warily than before.

"It's okay," she said, repeating what Rex had said earlier "We're here to help you."

The boy scoffed.

"Not if you're with them," he snarled, pointing at Rex.

"What do you mean?" she asked as Rex slowly left the room "They've come to free you from the slavers."

The boy actually laughed.

"After they sold us to them in the first place? I don't think so."

"What are you talking about?" she asked as Rex returned with Bo-Katan, who had her helmet off and a holo projector in one hand.

She approached them carefully and knelt in front of them.

"Hello, I'm Bo-Katan, of the Jaig Eyes," she said, tapping the Jaig Eyes painted on her chest plate "We had nothing to do with your kidnapping but I think I know who did it," she added activating the holo projector.

An image of a burning eye, dripping redness, appeared from it and the children made noises of terror and moved as far away as possible from it.

"We are not them," she promised "And we kill those dar'manda wherever we can find them," she added, a dark glint in her eyes as she switched off the projector.

The boy, who seemed to be the leader of the small group, whispered something to the others and after a minute they all nodded and he stepped forward, still holding the girl.

"Okay, we'll go with you," he said "But if you try anything..." he trailed off and Ahsoka couldn't help but smile at the sight of a five year old boy threatening a fully armoured pirate.

Bo-Katan felt amused as well, but she kept her expression neutral as she nodded and stood.

"Alright then, if you head out the door, we'll take you back to our ship and you can all get something to eat."

The boy nodded and gestured to the others, who all got up and huddled together again as they made their way out the door and to the Jaig Hunter.

Before Bo-Katan could step out though, Ahsoka stopped her.

"Who does that symbol belong to," she asked "You seem to really hate them."

Bo-Katan grimaced.

"The Eye's of Cyclops," she spat "A group of psychotic fallen Mandalorians, aruetiise, savages that kill for the fun of it, they work for one of the Hutts sometimes, but mostly they just attack wherever and whatever they feel like. They're notorious for their blood sports and taking slaves from their targets," she growled, getting angry at just the thought of them.

"If you want to, we could take any intel you have to the Republic so we can try to do something about it?"

"Like the Republic has time for that." she scoffed, before sighing "Though I suppose it wouldn't hurt." she added as they started walking back towards the Jaig Hunter.

"That's fair." Ahsoka admitted, before turning to the five year old boy holding the little togruta. "What's your name?"

"Tobbi" the child said "We don't know her name."

"Do you want me to carry her for you?" She asked "I mean you are very strong, but you must be hungry and you'll need your hands to eat"

Tobbi nodded and handed her the girl, who immediately snuggled into the cape

Rex started walking next to her. "What do you think the little one needs? We don't have formula and I don't know what nats eat normally."

Bo-Katan scoffed "She would've guessed that you're a clone by now even if your modulator hadn't failed, you should really work on being more subtle."

"Yeah," Ahsoka said "And you guys should also be careful with names. Some of them do not sound like what a nat would use, no offence."

Rex groaned under his bucket "Do you know what to feed the baby or not?" he asked , obviously trying to change the subject.

"Yes, she's old enough to be weaned but she should eat soft, boiled meats."

"Boiled meat? Can't we barbecue her something?" Rex asked in disgust "Or maybe give her some soaked rations."

Ahsoka shook her head. "Us Togruta don't respond well to rations. I can eat them if I'm desperate enough, but they do upset my stomach and I don't think she'll have as strong a constitution as I do."

"Wait, that's a Togruta?" Rex asked "But it has no..." he gestured around his head.

"We're born without them for obvious reasons" Ahsoka said

Rex tilted his helmet at her curiously

"They'd get stuck on their way out" Bo-Katan said "That's kinda obvious"

"I know," Ahsoka said "But I fully blame the longnecks for not having that talk with them. In the 501st we have to make sure Kix gives the shinies the talk before their first leave."

"Shush," Rex said, before gesturing at Fives, who had been standing near the entry point to the Jaig Hunter.

"Ah, so you brought the kids and my commander back safely. Good." he said, clearly still irritated

"Is that your brother?" Tobbi asked, clinging to Rex's Kama "You look just like him."

Fives stared at the boy for a moment, then turned his gaze to Rex, his trade mark grin spreading across his face.

"There something you want to share, brother?" he asked.

Rex sighed, but removed his helmet and Fives eyes widened.

"Yes, I'm a clone, I'm simply exercising my right to choose my own future." 

Fives opened his mouth to say something but Rex talked over him.

"And now that you know our secret..." he trailed off, but the threat was clear, keep it or you'll regret it.

"Don't worry, I'll vouch for him," Ahsoka said, patting Fives on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd never betray a brother," Fives said, though he was still looking at Rex with suspicion and what looked like awe.

"Good," Rex nodded, replacing his helmet as one of his people, a woman by the looks of their armour, came running up to him.

"Sir, we pulled this off their manifest," she said, holding up a datapad "Look at this entry here," she continued highlighting one of the smaller ones, "Six units to be delivered to someone called Sidious, no destination but it's gotta be those kids."

"Yeah," Rex agreed "Does it say where they got them from?"

"Yes, Gratta the Hutt," she spat.

"One of the Hutts that deals with the Cyclops's," Bo-Katan supplied at Ahsoka's questioning look.

"Good work, Ursa," Rex said, clapping her on the back "Recall everyone and let's head back to base, we can debrief and then I think we should pay this Hutt a visit."

"Agreed," Bo-Katan growled.

"Oh and Ursa?” Rex asked nervously

Ursa stopped and turned back around. “I don’t like your nervous tone.”

“I know, this might be inappropriate to ask but... do you know what to do with these kids?”

Ursa groaned “Just because I have a daughter doesn’t mean I know everything about children. They’re all older than Sabine anyway.”

“Okay,” Rex said “But I don’t know enough about kids. Apparently the talk the longnecks gave us wasn’t enough.”

“I think I can help” Ahsoka said “I’ve helped out at the crèche plenty of times. Plus, I suspect they’re force sensitive and so it’s better if I handle them.”

“Alright.” Rex said. “Let’s go back into the ship and get these kids back to base”

After they got the kids secured, Fives sat down next to Rex.

“So... Vod.” Fives said, earning an odd look from Echo.

“You’re not good at keeping secrets, are you?” Rex said.

“I don’t keep secrets from Echo” Fives said “But I want to know how and why you deserted”

Rex sighed “Our first battle... didn’t go well. We had a casualty rate of over 60%, and our General didn’t even properly count the losses. We weren’t even sent back to Coruscant between deployments. So when the rest of us were send to Aradan immediately after that disastrous mission to Felucia, we just kinda... gave up. There was no way we could win this war with losses like that. So when our general couldn’t even be bothered to come planetside, we didn’t bother to return to the ship. We just cut off all communications and pretended to be dead. Then he just left. We built a life there, and used the gunships we still had to steal other ships. That’s how we eventually ended up as pirates.”

“No Jedi would ever do that!” Fives protested.

“We had Krell,” Rex said dryly

“That’s not a Jedi, he was a traitor,” Fives said “But I see why you deserted. I won’t tell Skywalker, even though I’m sure he would understand.”

"Thanks," Rex said drily, as the ship leapt into hyperspace.

"So that's why so many of your men seemed familiar," Echo said, almost to himself.

"Yep," Coric said, stepping in from the cargo bay and removing his helmet "Makes things difficult sometimes, but otherwise we manage."

"Difficult? How?" Ahsoka asked, as the kids looked between the almost identical faces with confusion.

"Well, we were afraid to be recognized. That's why we usually avoid the Republic when we can" Rex said "I still don't want Skywalker to know. I want to see how long we can keep this up."

"Understandable," she said, before they all fell silent again.

They sat for a while in silence.

"So... What's going to happen to us?" Tobbi asked.

"We don't know" Rex said "We never had a bunch of kids before. But we'll take care of you until we figure out what to do. Do you know where your parents are?" 

Tobbi just started crying at that. "They... They were killed when they took me," he got out.

"I'm sorry for your loss" Rex said, before turning to the Rodian girl "What about yours?"

She just looked at him confused, and then Rex remembered that she probably didn't speak basic. She held the other Rodian close, and Rex realized she had always been holding onto him. He pointed to one and the other and asked "Vod'e?"

They apparently didn't speak mando'a either.

"Yes, they're siblings" Ahsoka said "I can feel it in the force."

"Can you tell where they're from?" he asked.

"No, I can ask them for an impression of their home but it won't tell me enough. I've practised it on a clone at the beginning of the war actually, and all I got were vague impressions of rain, water, white hallways and a stressful feeling. And Jesse still remembered Kamino well since he only left a few months ago when I tried it. I doubt I'll get anything useful."

"Then what do you suggest?" He asked.

"The Jedi Order would take them in." she offered.

"Well... I don't know," he said.

Before they could finish the conversation, the pilot announced that they were dropping out of hyperspace. They were back at their base.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Jaig Eyes return to base and decide what to do with the children.

When they arrived back at the base the children were taken straight to the mess and the Jaig Eyes did their best to seem friendly and provide what they needed.

Ahsoka stayed with them, partly so there was a relatively familiar face around, but mainly because the little Togrutan girl hadn't let go of her since she'd picked her up. 

She was currently helping her eat some kind of mash that, although it looked unappealing, seemed to taste great if the rate she was eating it was any indication.

Fives and Echo had also come with her, and along with Bo-Katan were trying to draw the other children into conversation, though only Tobbi made any effort to respond.

Soon after, Anakin came and joined them too and hadn't seemed surprised at all by the child sitting on her so she assumed Rex had briefed him when when he'd debriefed the pilots.

"How's your side?" he asked when he returned with his own plate of food.

"Fine," she said "Coric's a very good medic."

"Good," he nodded and got started on his steak.

"After we've eaten the Captain's called a meeting of all his officers and us to decide how to proceed with..." he trailed off, waving at the children.

"Alright," she nodded, then grimaced as the girl ate something she didn't like the taste of and spat it back out, most of it ending up on her lap.

She scowled at Anakin as he laughed and scraped as much of it off as she could before returning it to the plate.

The rest of the meal went without further mishap and soon they were leading the children to the quarters that had been assigned to them.

Sky was waiting there for them, along with some other women who Ahsoka didn't recognize. there was a Rodian, two humans and another Twi'lek. There was also a male Togruta, a little older than Ahsoka.

"Are these the kids?" one of the humans asked.

"Yes," Anakin said, taking the lead even though he had only met the kids once.

"Good." the Togruta said "We were assigned to take care of them."

"Good. I'm glad we don't have to do that," Anakin said. "And I'm glad you're not wearing buckets like the rest. I know kids are a little uncomfortable around clone helmets."

"Yeah haha," the Togruta said "I can't wear one for obvious reasons."

"Yeah. It's still odd to see so many people either wearing full armour or civvies. Do you guys not come on raids?"

"No," the other woman said "We weren't trained for that."

"Odd." Anakin said.

"It doesn't really matter. At least someone will watch these kids now," Ahsoka said, before handing the other Togruta the girl, assuming he'd been assigned to her due to them being the same species. 

"Ahsoka," Sky said "Coric asked me to give you this."

She handed Ahsoka her battle dress.

"Ah, right. I should change and give Rex his cape back

"I don't think you can still wear it" Sky said "The middle is pretty damaged. But Coric felt like it would be right to give it back anyway. He also told me to give you this in case it was unsalvageable," she said as she handed her other packet, wrapped in sealed plastic wrap.

"Is that what I think it is?" Echo asked.

"Probably," Sky said.

"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.

"New blacks." Fives said "And that's the original packaging too. I think they stole those from the Republic."

"Fives. They're pirates. Of course they stole it." Ahsoka argued "But it's not like you never stole new blacks after damaging your old ones."

"Touche," Fives said.

"Anyway, I'm gonna get changed into these" she said, holding up the blacks. "Meet me at the meeting."

"Yes Commander," Fives smirked as she headed back to their temporary quarters.

Once there, she quickly pulled on the top of the blacks, which were, understandably, quite a bit too big for her, so she rolled up the sleeves and tucked the hems into her belt.

Once that was done she left their quarters and ran to the briefing room where the meeting was being held.

She was last to arrive and took a seat next to Anakin and Padmé as Rex moved to the front of the room to begin.

"Right, now that we're all here, we need to discuss what we're going to do, with the Cyclops's, the Hutts, the children and whoever this Sidious is."

"Sidious?" Anakin asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, you heard of him?" Rex asked.

"Just rumours," Anakin replied.

"And they are?" Rex prompted when he said nothing else.

Anakin frowned thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "At the beginning of the war, Dooku said his master was controlling everything from inside the Republic senate, Sidious, he called him, but we've looked and we haven't found any sign of him, we're not even sure if he exists."

"Well, I think we can safely assume he exists now, but until we learn more there's not much we can do about him at the moment." Rex said before moving on. "The Cyclops's are an easier matter, we'll just hunt them down and wipe them out once and for all."

All the Jaig Eyes in the room growled in approval.

"We don't know where their base is but we can have a talk with this Gratta. I'm sure we can... persuade him to tell us what he knows," Bo-Katan said with a grim smile.

"Agreed," Rex said, "After this can you put a mission plan together?"

Bo-Katan nodded.

"Good, that just leaves the children," Rex continued, "And I think it's best if they stay here."

"Aren't you gonna find their parents?" Anakin asked.

"No." Rex said "We don't think we'll be able to find them, and slavers usually make sure there are no parents if they're taking just the kids." 

Anakin sighed, since he knew Rex was probably right.

"What about the Jedi Order?" Ahsoka asked.

"No." Rex said "We want to keep them. The Jedi will just train them to be one of them."

"So will you," Anakin said. 

"Well, maybe." Rex said "But we will allow them to leave if they want to."

"So would the Jedi," Ahsoka said "And you can't train them."

"What do you mean with that?" Rex asked.

"You're not force sensitive. How do you expect to teach them how to use the force?"

"They'll figure that out on their own, right?" Rex asked.

Ahsoka, Anakin and even Fives and Echo shook their heads. Rex looked around the group but none of the other pirates knew what to do.

"Maybe... If they want to stay here..." Anakin said "I mean most are on the older side, and adjusting to life as a Jedi at an older age is hard."

"I could train them for now," Ahsoka offered "I mean I'll probably be here often enough."

"I'd appreciate that," Rex said. "We'll keep the kids, at least for now though."

"Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Ahsoka asked "I kinda realized I forgot to bring your cape."

"Yes," Rex said "But I wanted to discuss that in private. Is it okay if I come with you to get my cape?"

"Sure" Ahsoka said as he started walking back to her quarters. "What's it about?"

"I want to know what happened between your master and Slick."

"I'll ask him," she promised. "I would like to know more about your men. I have a feeling a lot of them still don't like me, and I want to know how to remedy that."

"They're still suspicious of Jedi, but I'll tell them you're okay," Rex said "It'll take time, but they'll warm up to you."

"Thanks," she said, as they reached her quarters and she ducked inside quickly and returned with his cape.

"Thank you," Rex said as she handed it back to him.

"Thank you for lending it to me," she smiled, glancing at her chrono. "I better go if I wanna catch my Master before he leaves."

"I didn't know he was leaving," Rex said.

"He said he was going to escort Senator Amidala back and was planning to leave today."

"Alright, I'll be in the command bunker if you need me," Rex said, walking away.

"Alright," she replied, before turning and heading to Padmé's quarters.

When she reached them, she heard them moving around inside and knocked.

There was immediate silence inside.

"It's me," she said, and heard someone approach the door.

"Ahh Ahsoka," Padmé said as she opened the door, "I was just packing."

"That's alright," Ahsoka said, "I just wanted to ask Skyguy something before you left."

"Oh, and what's that?" Anakin asked, from where he was sitting on Padmé's bed.

"Could you tell me what happened between you and a clone trooper called Slick?"

Anakin's expression fell and a grimace replaced his smile.

"Slick was a trooper under my command on Christophsis, just before you came along. He betrayed us to the Separatists and got a lot of our men killed before blowing up the majority of our heavy weapons and tanks."

"Why did he do that?" Ahsoka asked.

"He said it was to save his brothers from being slaves to the Jedi," Anakin scoffed, "But he killed a lot of them and got even more killed when the Separatists attacked later that day."

"Why do you ask," he added, looking at her.

"Oh, Rex mentioned him serving under you and I was curious," she replied vaguely.

"How does Rex know him?" Anakin asked.

"I don't know," she lied, "He hears about these things somehow."

"Hmm," Anakin frowned.

"When are you leaving?" Ahsoka asked, keen to move on.

"As soon as she's packed," Anakin said, nodding at Padmé. "I'm not allowed to touch that outfit."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at Padmé's attempt to fit one of her more elaborate outfits into a suitcase.

"Come to think of it, do you need more outfits?" he asked. 

"Not right now," she said, gesturing at the blacks (which, if she was honest, were quite comfy) "But it would be nice if you brought some more when you come back from escorting Senator Amidala back to Coruscant."

"Alright," Anakin said "I'll be back in a week or so, but I won't be staying long. Someone needs to lead the 501st and I've left them unsupervised for far too long. Fives and Echo will stay here though. Just in case."

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka said. 

"Listen. I know Rex seems nice and all. But he's still a pirate and I don't want you to end up chained to a Sith if you know what I mean."

Ahsoka raised an eye marking. "So you're adding 80 kg of dumbass to the chain as well."

"Yeah, but you'll have Echo too and he'd be helpful." Anakin smirked. "Hopefully."

Padmé finally finished packing. "It was nice seeing you again, Ahsoka," she said before hugging the Togruta. "Keep me updated on the alliance." she said, in a tone that very much implied she wanted relationship drama instead.

Ahsoka walked with them to their ships, and they said their final goodbyes. Rex came to see them off, thanked Padmé profusely and he even nodded politely to Anakin and shook his hand.

As soon as they left, however Rex pulled his bucket off and sighed in relief as soon as their ships were out of sight.

"Not gonna lie, I'm glad they're gone" he said "I mean, the bucket was getting sweaty."

"I can't really relate to that," she chuckled. "So, what are the plans for the rest of the day?"

"I was thinking we could get you out of the guest quarters." Rex said "That way, both Fives and Echo can have some time without you around and you can have some more privacy as well."

"Yeah, sounds good," Ahsoka said.

"Great. I'll show you to your new quarters, and after that I'll go check on Slick while you move your stuff." 

"Alright" Ahsoka said, and they walked back to the base's main building.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka gets new quarters and Rex has a chat with Slick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We kinda started having a vague outline here, but nothing serious. mostly because we liked the story and didn't want it to go into a disorganized mess too much. But it's only vague so most of it is still improvised

Once inside, they headed for the living quarters, and down the same hall Rex's room was on.

"This one'll be yours," Rex said, stopping outside a room three doors down from his.

"Alright," Ahsoka said, as he unlocked the door, then gave her the key.

"I'll give a quick tour, then let you get settled," he said, opening the door.

"Sounds good," she replied, following him inside.

The room was larger than it appeared from the outside and had two more rooms leading off it.

"This is the living room," Rex said, gesturing vaguely at the room they were in. "Basic kitchen over there, a table, some chairs and whatever that is," he added, pointing at a flattened looking, purplish blob that was sitting on the ground.

"Okay," she nodded, trying to maintain a straight expression on her face since she wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not with his description of the room.

"This room is the bedroom," he continued, opening the first door. "With a bed and wardrobe for your clothes."

She nodded again.

"And this is the bathroom," he finished, indicating the second door, "With everything a bathroom normally has."

"Good," she said, a smile she couldn't hold back spreading across her face.

"Any questions?" he asked, looking at her seriously.

"Nope, I think I've got it," she smirked.

"Alright then, I'll leave you to it," he said and left her new quarters.

As soon as he was gone, she flopped down on the bean bag. It would work well as a meditation pillow. She noticed she was sitting on something. She pulled it out, and saw that it was a tag that just said "bönpåse" and a serial number, along with where to find it in the "self service storage".

She shrugged it off. They had raided a shipment of furniture apparently. It wasn't the worst thing pirates could do, and it explained why they had nice furniture.

Meanwhile, Rex was walking towards the barracks Slick lived in. He wasn't looking forward to that conversation, but he opened the door and walked in.

Slick was on his datapad, but quickly closed whatever he was doing. "Captain! How was the raid?"

"It went alright. The Jedi proved to be a valuable asset, as did the intel we got from the republic."

"That's great," Slick said, uncharacteristically cheerful "I'm sorry for lashing out earlier. Its just that... Well, you know Skywalker was my former General. It brought back some bad memories. Just please don't listen to what they might say about me."

"Don't worry about that," Rex said "They only called you a deserter and well... I can't exactly blame them."

"We should go to the market again sometime, just the two of us. You know, to catch up and such," Slick offered, avoiding eye contact

Rex raised an eyebrow at the offer. Slick wasn't one to enjoy going to the market, but on the other hand, he didn't want to turn down an offer of reconciliation. "Sure, I'll try to find time. Right now I'm helping Commander Tano settle in. You should give her a chance. She's nice."

Slick sighed. "I'll... I'll try to keep an open mind about her, but I don't feel comfortable around her yet."

"That's okay," Rex said "Take your time. But I know her men killed our former General and got away with it for the most part. And she is genuinely nice to us. Skywalker doesn't even know I'm a clone."

"Are you sure?" Slick said "I mean, I doubt she'd have kept that from her master."

"She seems trustworthy. She didn't tell Fives and Echo, though they did find out because one of the kids decided to point out we looked similar."

"She's a Jedi," Slick said. "I hope, for our sake, that you're right. But could you at least keep your guard up around her?"

"I will, if it makes you feel better. But with this treaty signed, we'll be able to live a normal life after the war is over. I made sure to include that in there, the Republic can't say they own us anymore now. We're free."

"Sure." Slick said, and Rex could hear that he didn't believe him. "We can go shopping in three days if that's okay with you?"

"Yeah, sure," Rex agreed. "I have a few things I need to take care of now, but we can talk more later."

"Sure thing Captain," Slick nodded. "See ya later."

Rex watched Slick walk away for a moment, feeling only slightly bad about misleading him. He did have things to do, but it could all wait till later.

Instead, he turned around and headed back to Ahsoka's new room, wondering if she managed to get any information from her Master.

Rex knocked on her door.

“Ahsoka? Can I ask you something?”

She opened the door “Yes, of course. What is it?”

Rex walked in and closed the door behind him. 

“Have you asked your master about Slick yet? I need to hear your side.”

“Yeah... About that...” she said “He got curious about why I was suddenly asking about Slick so I couldn’t ask much. But what he told me wasn’t good.”

“What do you mean?” Rex asked, fearing the worst.

“He killed brothers while trying to desert.”

“Slick wouldn’t.” Rex said “No brother would.”

“Well, he didn’t kill them directly. But he sold intel to the separatists, and destroyed equipment. That made the casualty rate a lot worse, and he should’ve known that would happen.”

“I still find that hard to believe.” Rex admitted “Slick might not be the nicest Vod, but he’s not a traitor.”

“I could ask Cody for the full story if you want me to?” she offered.

Rex froze. He didn’t want his batchmate to know what had become of him, but he needed to know how he was doing. He hadn’t seen his batchmate since he had left Kamino for Felucia. He was dead as far as Cody was concerned, but he had to know how his brother was doing.

“Keep me out of view,” he said.

Ahsoka nodded and grabbed her comm. 

Rex stepped back so he’d be out of view.

“Commander Cody here,” Cody said, and then the holo came on, showing a groggy looking clone.

“Wait, Commander Tano? Are you okay?” he said.

“I’m fine Cody. “

“Then why are you calling me in the middle of the night? And you’re with those pirates, right? Are you sure you’re safe?” 

That last statement hurt Rex, as did seeing the scar Cody had. He didn’t know how his brother had gotten it, but it looked bad.

“Oh right. Should’ve checked the time there,” she said “But the Jaig Eyes are actually really nice. Especially their Captain. But that’s not what I was calling about. Can you tell me what happened with Slick?”

"What do you want to know?" he asked, still not looking entirely awake.

"What did he do when he deserted?" she asked.

"He didn't desert, he was arrested after destroying most of our heavy weapons and tanks and disappeared when the Separatists attacked shortly after, lost most of the 212th because of what he did." Cody almost growled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise," Ahsoka said, glancing briefly at Rex to see how he was taking it, but she couldn't read his expression.

"It's alright," Cody muttered. "It was just rough, especially after losing..." he trailed off and she saw Rex gulp in a breath.

Then Cody shook himself.

"Was there anything else Commander?" he asked.

"No, thank you Cody," she said.

"Alright then, stay safe Commander," he said, before ending the call.

“Well, that adds up with what you told me,” Rex said dryly. “And it makes sense for Slick to cover that up.” 

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine. It’s just a bit much. I thought I’d never see him again, and I had assumed he’d be dead by now until you mentioned him.” he admitted. 

“I understand. I could ask him to come here if you want to?”

“That’d be a bad idea,” Rex said “Cody is too much of a stickler for rules. He’d feel forced to betray me and report it to his general. I don’t wanna put him in that situation.”

“Maybe,” Ahsoka said. “But Obi-Wan wouldn’t push him to reveal anything if he’s hesitant. And Cody knows what Krell is like now.”

“Perhaps,” Rex said. “but I don’t want my feelings to get in the way of what’s best for my men here.”

“You’re starting to sound like a Jedi,” she teased, punching him in the elbow. 

He smiled and rubbed his arm.

“Do you want to go for a walk again?” he asked “I mean, we don’t have anything else to do and I could introduce you to some others.”

“Is that the only reason you want to go on a walk with me?” she asked.

“Well, no. I’d also like you get to know you better. For real this time. No awkward bucket malfunctions,” he joked, but then he muttered. “And it would be useful if the men saw that you’re approachable, you know, unlike...”

“I know,” she said, as she walked to the door. “I’d love to. And I’ll stop asking awkward questions about siblings.“

“You can ask them now.” He said as they walked through the hallway “Except Bo-Katan. She’s a nat, after all. So that’s different sibling drama. To be honest, I don’t know what happened either. Something about her sister being a pacifist,” he shrugged.

“That shouldn’t be too much of a problem on Mandalore right now,” she said “Since it’s currently neutral and peaceful.” She tensed a bit, since Mandalore’s pacifism was a touchy subject among Mandalorians.

“It should be the other way around,” he scoffed. He understood the Duchess’s disdain for war, but he didn’t like her mandatory pacifism either. "But I don't want to get into another argument about it," he continued, "I spend enough time... discussing it with Bo-Katan." 

"Alright," Ahsoka agreed, "What do you want to do now?"

"I need to think about what to do with Slick," Rex said, "But first I'm going to get some lunch if you'd like to join me?"

"Sure," she agreed with a smile.

So they left her quarters and headed to the mess hall, chatting idly as they walked.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex gets a call from the Republic that changes everything

When they reached the mess, Fives, Echo and Bo-Katan were already there and waved them over, so they grabbed trays of food, more barbecued steak, and went to join them.

They said down next to Bo-Katan, on the opposite side of Fives and Echo.

“How does it feel to finally not have to wear that bucket all the time.” Bo-Katan asked. 

“Great.” Rex said. “Honestly, I’m glad my voice modulator died.”

“Second best voice modulator failure I’ve even witnessed,” Ahsoka joked.

“What was the best?” Bo-Katan asked.

“That one time Fives, Echo and I had to reset one of the cannons on the hull of the Resolute and Fives’ failed and Echo and I had some peace and quiet.”

“That’s kinda rude,” Bo-Katan said. 

“I can take it. I’m an ARC trooper," Fives said.

“Yeah. Technically, so am I,” Rex said. “So it’s not that much of a brag.” 

“But she said she never fought an ARC trooper before?” Fives said.

“I lied,” Bo-Katan said nonchalantly.

“Why would you do that?” Fives asked, earning him several stares from the rest. 

Ahsoka decided to break the awkward silence. “Rex, do you wanna spar sometime?”

“Sure,” he said “I’ll go easy on you.” 

“I could throw you across the room like a rag doll. You weigh like 80 kg,” she teased.

“85. Blame the better food here,” he said.

“It’s technically against the regs,” Echo said. 

“Why’s that?” Fives asked. 

“She can’t just beat up the guy we were trying to make an alliance with.”

“Like she’d win,” Rex teased, but then he was interrupted by the comm going off. “One moment. It’s an unknown Republic frequency, so it’s probably General Skywalker.”

Rex opened the comm, but the figure he saw wasn’t General Skywalker. It was a figure in a dark cloak. “CT-7567. Execute order 66.”

“Yes my Lord” Rex said blankly. 

“What going on?” Bo-Katan asked.

“Order 66 has been initiated. The Jedi have betrayed the Republic and must be executed,” Rex said as he grabbed his blaster and loaded it.

“Wait, what?” Ahsoka asked, as Rex raised his blaster and she looked down the barrel for a moment

Then, he fired.

And he missed.

His arm had been shoved to the side, held in place by an invisible force.

"Captain, what are you doing!?" Bo-Katan yelled.

Rex ignored her, and since he couldn't use his blaster, he simply tackled Ahsoka to the ground, trying to grab her throat.

She struggled against him and managed to throw him off, which also caused her to lose her force grip on his blaster.

He recovered faster than she did and she sat up to find him aiming at her again.

But he didn't fire, he hesitated for a moment, which allowed Fives and Echo to tackle him, pinning him to the ground.

"Keep him down!" Fives grunted as Rex began to struggle.

Rex fought against them, yelling incoherently, but he was no match for two Arc troopers.

"Kill the Jedi!" Rex screamed, as Bo-Katan joined Fives and Echo.

"Coric, get over here!" she yelled.

Coric came running over from a stunned group of Jaig Eyes that were watching things unfold.

"Put him out," she ordered.

Coric pulled a syringe from his medpack.

"Hold him still," he said.

They held him down and Bo-Katan grabbed his head to hold it steady while Coric jabbed the sedative in.

Almost instantly Rex stopped moving, but they waited a minute to make sure he wasn't faking it.

"Get him to the medbay," Bo-Katan said, getting to her feet. "We need to find out what's wrong with him."

Coric nodded and waved over a few other Jaig Eyes and together they hoisted him up and rushed to the medbay.

"Are you alright?" Bo-Katan asked, offering Ahsoka a helping hand up.

"Yeah, just a few bruises, nothing major," Ahsoka said, taking her hand. "Do you know why he went like that?"

"Not a clue," Bo-Katan answered worriedly. "I've never seen him like that before."

"Something about the call seemed to trigger whatever it was, can we trace it?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yes, I'll get our tech guys to take a look at it," Bo-Katan said, turning and heading for the door.

Ahsoka followed after her, jogging slightly to catch up.

"Where are we going?"

"Medbay, I want to see what Coric can find out."

When they arrived at the medbay, Coric was running scanners on Rex and another clone was busy connecting cables to Rex's comm. 

"How's he doing?" she asked. 

"Perfectly healthy and stable. Nothing weird except a lot of activity on the right side of his brain," he grumbled.

Echo and Fives came bursting in as well.

"Do either of you know what that was?" Coric asked. Fives shook his head, but Echo nodded awkwardly.

"What is it Echo?"

"It's an emergency protocol that was in one of the unreleased versions of the Reg manual. In case one of the Jedi went rogue. It was removed in the versions that were released."

"Only you would read an unreleased Reg manual," Fives said. "Seriously, when would that ever be useful?"

"It is now," Ahsoka said. "But that doesn't explain why he's suddenly taking orders from the Republic."

"I could wake him up so we can interrogate him." Coric said. 

"Good idea. But tell him you killed me."

"That way he won't try to kill you." Coric nodded, as he pulled out the syringe. Then, he walked to the closet, and pulled out a body bag. "Hide in here."

Ahsoka raised an eye marking at him but then Rex stirred. She knew he'd wake up soon if Coric didn't put the syringe back, so she got in the bag. Coric zipped it up for the most part and lifted her awkwardly.

"Hey!" she protested.

"Sorry," he said "I'm not used to people this light and lively" he said as he put her on what was probably an examination table. "Just wait here until we're done with the autopsy. I mean interrogation."

She rolled her eyes but stayed quiet.

"Rex, how are you? Coric asked.

"I'm fine. What happened? Did we kill the traitor?" Rex asked. 

"Yes, I did" Coric lied. "Why did we have to kill her again? She seemed nice."

"Chancellor Palpatine said the Jedi betrayed the Republic, and we had to kill them all," he said. "Don't you remember?"

"Why do we follow the chancellor's Orders?" Coric asked.

"Because we're clones, and we're loyal to the Republic. Why are you asking, CT-2586?"

"No we're not," Coric replied. "We're pirates, we're loyal to nobody but ourselves."

"That's treason!" Rex said angrily, trying to get up. "I'm going to have you sent in for reconditioning, now release me, I'm your superior officer and this in violation of section 2345 of the reg manual."

"Sorry Captain," Coric said, looking totally unfazed. "You've suffered a head injury of some kind and we need to figure out what's wrong."

"You're a traitor and have no authority over me," Rex yelled, still fighting against the restraints.

Coric ignored him and stuck another sedative in him.

His struggles quickly began to weaken as his yells became more and more incoherent. 

"Get the med droid in here, I want to do a full brain scan," Coric said to one of his assistants.

The woman nodded and left the room, returning shortly after as Ahsoka climbed out of the body bag.

"What are you looking for?" she asked Coric as he instructed the med droid.

"Anything out of the ordinary, unusual activity, malfunctioning implants or chips, that sort of thing," he responded.

"Chips?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah, we clones have a number of them implanted, for various purposes like identification or to assist medics when we're injured." he replied, giving the droid the go ahead.

They watched in silence as it began it's examination, with the results being fed to one of the monitors Coric had set up.

"That's not suppose to be there," Coric said a minute later, as the scan revealed a large tumour like lump in his head.

"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.

"Looks like an organic chip of some sort, but it's not suppose to be there, it needs to come out but..." Coric muttered.

"But what?" Fives asked, who had been silent up till then.

"I'm not sure what effect it will have on him if we remove it," Coric admitted. "It could kill him."

Fives frowned thoughtfully.

"What if you could try it on someone else first?" he asked.

"Bad idea," Coric said "We'd risk their life that way, and I doubt it'd improve his chances."

"No, but someone is trying to get our commander killed. You have to fix me and Echo too."

"What?" Echo asked.

"It's obvious what's happening," Fives said "Someone in the GAR found out about Rex being a clone, somehow managed to factory reset him, and ordered him to kill Ahsoka. If they find out Ahsoka is still alive, they're gonna try making us kill her. And if Rex didn't have a choice, neither will we."

"Why didn't they give you the order then?" Coric asked.

"So they could blame the Jaig Eyes for her death.

"I thought the Republic wanted this alliance," Coric said 

"The Republic as a whole does," Fives said "This smells like another traitor to me. An inside job, just like on Umbara."

"This is too much," Coric said. "Why would someone in the Republic want to kill a Jedi?"

"We don't know, but it's obvious someone tried." Fives said, before turning to the tech guy in the corner. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes and no," he said "This transmission used GAR encryption, and the certificate confirmed this came from Republic high command. Whoever send this must've been a General or higher. The message is anonymous but undoubtedly legit."

"But how would they know about Rex being here?" Coric asked, glaring at Ahsoka.

"I didn't report him" she said "And I'll do whatever I can to prove it."

"Give Grep your comm," Coric ordered, gesturing to the tech guy. "And let him look through the logs."

"Alright" Ahsoka said, as she walked over to Grep "But maybe you should check this base's logs too. There's a better chance of finding something there." 

"That's a good idea," Grep said as he hooked up her comm to his datapad.

"Grep, can you watch her outside while I operate on the two ARCs and our Captain?" Coric said. 

"So you'll do it?" Fives said. 

"If you're sure" Coric said "What you're saying makes sense, and if your rambling is correct, we're all at risk. And I want to look at those chips."


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clones undergo surgery and they try to figure out who's to blame.

"Alright, lets do it then," Fives said, and Coric waved him to one of the free beds, while Ahsoka left the medbay with Grep.

He led them to a waiting room beside the medbay and sat down at one of the tables.

She sat down across from him as he began going through her comm logs, looking for anything suspicious, she supposed.

He didn't say anything as he worked and she didn't want to interrupt him so she remained silent too.

After about fifteen minutes, he sighed and disconnected her comm, handing it back to her.

"It's clean," he told her with a small smile. "Whatever it was, you weren't involved."

"Thanks," she said, a little sarcastically, but he didn't seem bothered by it and moved on to another task.

"What are you doing now?" she asked ten minutes later, when curiosity got the better of her.

"I'm searching the base logs for any trace of a call going to a Republic frequency and checking those that look suspicious," he said, continuing to type away at the pad.

"Is there anything?"

"Not ye- hmm..." he said, frowning at something he could see on screen.

"What is it?" she asked, but he ignored her.

His frown deepened the longer he looked at whatever it was, so she tried to subtly edge round the table to see what it was. 

But before she could get a glimpse, he stood abruptly and rushed for the door.

"Wait here," he called back over his shoulder. "I need to talk to Bo-Katan."

Then he was gone, leaving her alone, with nothing but her burning curiosity to keep her company.

After five minutes, she was seriously considering just leaving to see what was going on, but knew it wouldn't look good for her if they suddenly came looking for her and she'd disappeared.

Another ten minutes passed and the suspense was killing her, and she was all set to just march out of there when Coric walked in, a grin on his face.

"The surgery went very well," he told her. "They're still out of it, but you can come in and wait till they wake up."

"Thank you," she said and followed him back out the door.

The three clones were lying in their beds. Rex was the closest, and also the one who felt the most conscious. He had probably gone first then. Part of his blonde hair was shaven off, and there she could see the stitches through the thin gauze covering the wound. She made a mental note that they were apparently short on bacta, and that she should request some in the next report. Rex's eyes fluttered a little.

"Rex?" she asked "Can you hear me?"

Rex frowned and groaned, but opened his eyes. "Am I dead? 

"No" she said "How are you feeling?"

"Are you sure?" he asked "Coric said he..." he trailed off

"I lied," Coric said "I didn't want you going after... her again"

"You can call me Ahsoka if you want to" she told the medic, sensing his hesitation in how to address her.

Rex just groaned again. "My head hurts."

"Well, you just had brain surgery" Coric said "But how bad is it?"

"I could push through if I had too. I... What happened?" Rex asked.

"You uhm..." Ahsoka started, but Coric put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. 

"What do you remember?" Coric asked.

"I... I got the order to kill all the Jedi" he said. "And then I somehow lost control of myself. I freaked out and..."

He sat up. "I'm sorry" he said "I tried to kill you. If you want to call the alliance off now and go back to your men, I understand."

"Apology accepted," she said. "But no. I want to stay. I have to know what happened. And I need to make sure you're safe too."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Rex, whoever called you addressed you with a number. They knew you were a clone, and I promised to keep that information from the Republic."

"We already know it wasn't her who ratted you out," Coric said "And I had the ARC's comms investigated too. Just in case."

"Right," Rex said, still not sounding like he was fully awake. "So, back to wearing my bucket then."

"Nope," Coric said "Not with those stitches. Wait at least two weeks."

"So what am I suppose to do then?" Rex asked.

"Rest for the moment," Coric answered. "Tomorrow if you're feeling better I might let you get up, but until then, you're staying in that bed." he added sternly.

"And Ahsoka is going to make sure you don't leave," he added as an after thought.

"Yep," she said with a grin when Rex looked questioningly at her.

"Figures," Rex muttered.

"Anyway, I need to talk to Bo-Katan," Coric continued, heading for the door. "If they wake up tell them not to move till I get back," he said, indicating Fives and Echo.

"Okay," she nodded and he left.

They sat in awkward silence for a few moments.

"So... A lot of people need to talk to Bo-Katan today," Ahsoka said awkwardly.

"Well, she is my second in command and I'm in the medbay," Rex said.

"Good point," Ahsoka said.

They sat silently again, but then Rex broke the silence "If you want to leave, you can. I'll deal with Coric for you."

"No," she said "I already told you, I need to stay here so we can figure out what's going on. Whoever wants me dead needs to find out if I'm actually dead soon enough. They'll either send someone here or try to send a message. If we keep the comms monitored, we'll finds them."

"That sounds like a good plan, but still..." Rex said as he lay back down.

There was a knock on the door. "I'll get that, stay put."

When she opened the door, it was Grep. "Hello, Commander Tano," he said "I got your comm here, and it looks like you got a message."

She was handed the comm, and opened the holorecording. It was from Anakin.

"Hey Ahsoka! How are things? I just had a talk with the chancellor and he advised me to check up on you, so I'll be coming over soon. I'll bring some new clothes too. See you later!"

The hologram disappeared.

"So... They're sending Anakin to check up on me." Ahsoka said.

"What do you think we should do?" Rex asked.

"Pretend like nothing happened and let me question him when he gets here. And I'll stop wearing my comm so they won't know I'm still alive."

"Won't General Skywalker expect an answer?" Grep asked.

"He forgot to answer me when I got trapped in a closet once. He can deal with me forgetting to answer him" she said.

"Alright," Rex said, "I'll trust your judgment on this."

"Thank you," Ahsoka said.

"Of course." Rex said. "I have to make up for what I did somehow."

"Rex, it was clear it wasn't your fault," she said.

"Still, I wanna make it up to you somehow." he said, holding her gaze for just a moment, when Bo-Katan came bursting in.

"Captain. We found out how the Republic knew about you," she said.

"How?" Rex asked, sitting up again.

"Grep found a message sent to a Republic comm, it was well hidden, but we managed to trace it back to the datapad it was sent from," she said.

"And who was it?" Ahsoka asked.

"Slick!" Bo-Katan spat.

"What!" Rex exclaimed. "I don't believe it."

"It's true," she replied. "When we arrested him he knew why we were there, even had a little speech prepared about how you were betraying us to the Republic."

Rex sank back into the bed.

"Where is he now?" he asked quietly, though Ahsoka could sense his building anger.

"In the brig," Bo-Katan said. "We'll hold him till you're well enough to speak with him."

"In the meantime, Coric has recommended, and I agree, that we should remove all the chips from the rest of the men," she continued.

"Good idea," Rex agreed.

Bo-Katan nodded and turned to leave again.

"Ahh, Bo, can you spare a minute? There's something I wanted to discuss with you, privately," he said with an apologetic look at Ahsoka.

"Sure," Bo-Katan said as Ahsoka stood.

"I'll wait outside," she said with a smile at Rex to show she didn't mind.

"Thank you," Rex said, looking relieved.

She stepped outside and had barely been waiting a minute when Bo-Katan stepped out, a smirk on her face.

She shook her head when Ahsoka looked questioningly at her and marched off.

Slightly confused, she went back into the medbay and returned to her seat beside Rex, who looked faintly flushed.

"What was she smirking about?" She asked.

"Ahh, you'll see at some point," Rex said evasively as a loud groan came from Fives's bed.

"Fives!" Ahsoka hurried over to his bed "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone cut my head open."

"That makes sense," she said.

"Need. Bucket." he groaned.

Ahsoka grabbed a bucket with the force, and held it out in front of him.

"That's not my bucket" Fives said, looking offended.

"Oh, I thought you meant you were gonna... You know..." she said awkwardly.

"I meant my helmet," Fives said, mock offended.

"You're not allowed to wear it," Rex said "We don't have the best medical supplies here."

"No bacta patches?" Fives asked.

"Nope. Just suture threads." Rex said "So no bucket for a week."

"Why do you not have much bacta?"

"We don't raid medical frigates out of principle. So we can't steal much bacta," Rex explained.

"I'll ask Anakin for some bacta," Ahsoka said.

"You'd do that?" Rex asked, looking even more flustered

"Rex, bacta is cheap and essential. It's no big deal," she insisted.

"Still," he said. "I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it," she said, smiling at him. He just smiled back.

"So... What are the next plans?" Fives asked, breaking the tension a little.

"Well, I wanted to confront Gratta the Hutt. But since I can't wear a bucket for the next week or so, I think I should let Bo-Katan lead that mission. I'll stay behind and deal with Slick."

"I'll stay too" Ahsoka said "I know Fives and Echo don't want to be alone during the recovery."

"I'd appreciate the company too," Rex said.

"I know. Once you feel better, we could do that sparring match you promised," she said.

"Looking forward to it," Rex said "I'm pretty sure Coric will let us out soon. He goes into mother hen mode whenever something happens, but as soon as he calms down he becomes more lenient."

"Nice," Fives said. "Kix stays in mother hen mode until we're on leave."

"Just make sure you're careful with the stitches," Rex warned "Coric goes feral if you rip them out."

"Noted," Fives said.

"I should tell Bo-Katan to get ready to lead the next mission," Rex said "And I'll start thinking about confronting Slick."

"I'll go get her," Ahsoka said, rising from her seat.

"Nah, it's alright, I can just comm her," Rex said, pulling out his comm.

"Ah, right," she said, sinking back into her chair.

Rex called Bo-Katan's number and after a moment her holo appeared between them.

"Yes, Captain?" she asked.

"I was just going to say to continue on with our missions and you're clear to go after this Hutt whenever you're ready," Rex said.

Bo-Katan smiled grimly.

"We're ready to go," she said. "My strike team has been looking forward to this."

"Good," Rex smiled, equally grim. "Find out what you can from him then get here and we can form a plan to finally wipe this scum out."

"Sounds like a plan," she smirked. "Oh, and that thing you asked for has been taken care of, should be ready in the next day or two."

"Thank you Bo-Katan," Rex smiled, genuinely this time. "I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."

Bo-Katan nodded.

"Good luck," she smirked, before ending the call.

"What are you talking about?" Ahsoka asked.

"I'll tell you later," Rex said. "It's a surprise. I figured I'd do something to make up for... well, you know." His face turned grim again. 

"Okay," she said, getting tired of explaining that she knew it wasn't his fault. 

"What are you planning?" Fives asked.

"Not telling you," Rex said.

"Oh no, you better tell me," Fives argued. "No offence, but I know how to deal with her better. And I'm better with girls in general. Tessa and I talk almost every day at 79's, I think it's getting serious."

"Tessa?" Echo, who had apparently just woken up, asked groggily "What about her?" 

"We talk everyday at 79's, right Echo?" Fives asked.

"Yeah, of course. She's the bartender," Echo said.

Fives shushed his brother and Ahsoka started laughing but Rex shot them a confused look.

"What's a bartender?" Rex asked.

"Never been to 79's?" Echo asked. "It's the greatest clone bar on Coruscant."

"Well, I've never been on Coruscant," Rex said.

"It's a bar the Republic set aside for the clones," Ahsoka explained. "They figured that providing a bunch of clones with alcohol and letting them have a bar to party in was less expensive than paying for the property damage they do when they're bored."

"Hardcase hasn't flushed down a single detonator since 79's opened," Echo said.

"I think that's because General Skywalker made him clean it," Fives said, laughing at the memory.

"General Skywalker told me about that. Are you sure he wasn't killed for that?" Rex asked.

"Trust me," Ahsoka said "We would've noticed if Hardcase was gone."

"Okay," Rex said, and then the door opened.

"Coric. You're back," Rex said.

"Yes," the medic said "I wanted to check up on you, but you three seem to be doing well." 

"Does that mean we can leave?" Rex asked.

"I'll let you out tomorrow if you keep responding well," Coric said, "You could interrogate Slick then if you want too."

"Yes," Rex said, before turning to Ahsoka "Do you want to join me?"

"Yes," Ahsoka said "I think I'll go back to my room though. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright," Rex said "I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded and left, since she still had a bunch of stuff to move from a the shared quarters to her new quarters.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo-Katan leaves for a mission, and Rex and Ahsoka confront Slick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've decided to just make it a normal collab from now on

The next morning, after getting dressed, Ahsoka headed for the medbay. On the way she passed the mess, but decided to have breakfast when Rex, Fives and Echo could join her.

When she arrived, Coric was in the middle of checking over Fives.

Echo was standing by the door, looking like he'd already been checked, while Rex was waiting for his turn.

"Good morning," she said with a smile.

"Morning Commander," Fives and Echo replied.

"Morning... Ahsoka," Rex said with a shy smile of his own.

"How're they looking?" she asked Coric.

"They're fine," he said, indicating Fives and Echo as he finished his checks and Fives got out of bed, joining Echo at the door. "I still need to check Rex."

"Okay," she nodded as he moved over to Rex and began examining him.

A minute later Rex was cleared.

"Just take it easy," Coric cautioned as they headed for the door.

"Hey, it's me," Rex smirked.

"That's what worries me," Coric sighed.

"I'll take care of them," Ahsoka promised.

Coric just sighed again and waved them out.

"So, now that you're free, what do you want to do?" Ahsoka smirked, when they were outside.

"Breakfast," Fives said and Echo nodded.

"Yes," Rex agreed. "And after that I want to see Bo-Katan off."

"Oh, well, if you insist," Fives said with a grin and Echo had no objections, so they made their way to the mess.

When they arrived at the mess hall though, the breakfast crew was already cleaning up.

“Sorry captain,” one of them said. “We have a few left overs, but most of the meat is gone.” 

“You should have it,” Rex said, turning to Ahsoka, who nodded and went to get her plate from the meat section of the mess hall.

When Ahsoka was gone, Fives rolled his eyes. “She already forgave you. Stop offering her better food, it’s getting a little too over the top.”

“Fives.” Echo said.

“What?”

“She’s a carnivore.”

“Oh, right,” Fives said. “Sorry I though this was just a sad attempt at flirting.”

“Like what you’re trying with Bo-Katan?” Rex joked.

Fives opened his mouth to say something, while Echo just snickered and grabbed some bread. 

“Do you think I have a chance?” Fives asked when they walked back to their table.

“Honestly, not really,” Rex said as he sat down opposite Fives and Echo. “I mean if she was into clones, she probably would’ve asked me out first. Since I've known her longer.”

“We could say the same thing about Ahsoka,” Fives said, earning him a jab from Echo.

“What about me?” Ahsoka said as.

“Nothing,” Rex stammered. “We were just discussing Slick.”

“Real smooth,” Echo teased.

“I guess you could say it was... Slick.” Fives added, causing Ahsoka to slap herself in the face.

“So uhm.... can you tell me more about the 501st?” Rex asked.

“Well, Slick left before any of us joined,” Echo said. “So we can’t tell you much about what it was like back then. But we’re really close. And the nightmare of the Coruscant guard.”

Rex nodded, since Fives and Echo had filled him in about 79’s. “I don’t think he would’ve liked that. Slick isn't the most... fun loving Vod.”

“I still don’t know what to do with him” Rex continued, “I need to know what he was planning and what he told them. Then, I want him gone. But not _gone gone_.”

“Yeah, I heard executing a brother sucks,” Echo said. “We never had to do it in the 501st though.”

“Well, aside from that one time,” Fives said. 

“That wasn’t a real execution,” Ahsoka said. 

"I almost died Ahsoka," Fives argued.

"Almost," Ahsoka said.

Echo gestured for them to cut it out, since Rex was getting a little uncomfortable at the indirect mention of his former General.

“So how do we get rid of Slick?” Rex asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Well, you could just kick him out or something," Ahsoka suggested, digging into her steak.

"That's probably the best solution," Rex admitted.

"Are there any towns nearby?" Fives asked.

"Not really, the closest is about 500 klicks west of here," Rex said, starting on his own breakfast.

"That would work then, you don't want him too close," Ahsoka said.

"True," Rex agreed.

"So when are you going to talk to him?" Echo asked.

"Later," Rex said after a moments thought. "I need to figure out what I'm going to say, see Bo-Katan off and I want to get my armour back first."

"I want to be there too," Fives said, leaning forward. "He tried to get my Commander killed, I want to know why."

Rex nodded.

They finished the rest of their breakfast in silence, then Rex stood up. "Let's go to the hangar first."

They arrived there just as Bo-Katan dismissed her force and they headed for their transports.

"Captain," Bo-Katan nodded when they reached her. "We're just about to depart."

"Yes," Rex said. "We just came by to wish you luck."

"Yeah, and good hunting," Fives added, giving her a friendly punch on the shoulder.

"Thank you," Bo-Katan smirked, rolling her eyes as Echo offered a hand to shake, which she did.

"May the force be with you," Ahsoka said.

Bo-Katan laughed.

"The force isn't going to want any part of what we're about to do," she said with a grim smile.

And with that, she turned and headed for her ship.

They watched her board and power up as the rest of her force did the same.

Then, one by one, they lifted off and left the hanger, rocketing up into space.

"I'm going to go get my armour, I'll meet you outside the brig in..." he glanced at his chrono “half an hour."

"Okay," Ahsoka agreed and gave him a smile, before leaving the hanger, followed by Fives. Rex took a double take, wondering were Echo was. Then he shrugged it off, Echo was an adult. He didn't have to follow Ahsoka around everywhere.

He made his way to the armourer, which was next to the medbay so Coric could bring his patient's there easily.

"Morning Besk, do you have my armour?" 

"Which one?" the other clone asked. 

"My own. I'll get the other set later, I need to talk to Slick first. After that, I'll finish her armour and give it to her."

"Alright," Besk said as he took Rex's armour out of storage. "Keep the scans Coric made in mind though. She really isn't the same size as us, so I'm glad Coric had those scans he made after she got stabbed."

"Will do," Rex said "...Where's my helmet?"

"Coric said I can't give you back your bucket yet," Besk said "I'll give it to you next week."

"What if Skywalker comes back though?" Rex asked. "He can't know I'm a clone."

"Then I'll have it ready for you as soon as he transmits his access codes," Besk assured him. "But Coric will kill me if I give you the bucket."

"Fine," Rex sighed, as he started putting his plates back on.

He marched back to the brig, where Fives and Ahsoka were already waiting.

"Good. You're here," he said.

"We need to know where he reported you," Fives said. 

"That's in the logs" Rex said "We got his personal encryption keys when we confiscated his datapad, he just called the public number that shows up if you type "How to report deserted clone" into the holonet."

"But that line don't lead to anyone in particular!" Fives growled. "It's just some desk clerk who helps you file a report and then that report goes the the appropriate authorities. No one in that part of the GAR would have a specific vendetta against Ahsoka, they've never even met her."

"I know," Rex said "But we need to know what else he was planning and if he had any accomplices. Don't tell him we're going to banish him straight away."

"Why not?" Ahsoka asked.

"He might be more cooperative if we can make him "earn" his own freedom if that makes sense."

"Sounds like a plan," Fives agreed with a humourless smile.

"Right then, let's get this over with," Rex said. "Is Echo coming?"

"No, he said there were some things he wanted to do," Fives replied.

"Okay," Rex said, taking a breath, before pushing open the door and marching inside, Fives and Ahsoka hot on his heels.

The brig wasn't very big, only a dozen cells and Slick had the one down the far end, which only took them seconds to reach.

"Hello Captain," Slick sneered as they stepped up to his cell. "Come to gloat have you?"

"No, I have some questions," Rex said, maintaining his calm.

"Oh really?" Slick scoffed, and he stood up, standing close to the bars. "And you expect me to cooperate."

"Yes, because if you do, we'll let you go." Rex stated.

Slick snorted. "You expect me to believe that?"

"It's true," Ahsoka said.

"SHUT UP JEDI!" Slick yelled, then let out a yelp as Fives grabbed him through the bars and slammed him against them.

"Watch how you talk to my Commander," he growled.

"It's all her fault, none of this would have happened if she hadn't come here," Slick hissed through the bars.

'What do you mean?" Rex asked. "She's done nothing but help us."

"Oh sure, ever since she showed up it's been Jedi this and Jedi that and oh how good are the Jedi," Slick growled. "But you forget what they've done to us, what they're still doing to us. It's like you don't care about your brothers."

Fives let go of him and he slumped to the ground with a defeated sigh.

"All I wanted was to have a choice in life, is that too much to ask?" he said quietly.

"You have a choice," Rex said, crouching down beside him. "You can help us by telling us what you did and who helped you because what you did revealed a horrible secret. There are chips in our heads that people can use to control us, no matter where we go and we'll never be free until we figure out who controls them."

“And you think the Jedi had nothing to do with it?” Slick snarled “They’re probably the ones who told the longnecks to do this!”

“That’s ridiculous.” Rex said. 

“She mindtricked you,” Slick scoffed. “You know the Jedi want nothing but blind obedience.”

“Slick, I’m not mind tricked.” Rex said.

“They don’t even work on us” Fives said “I’d know, since-“ Ahsoka jabbed the arc trooper in the ribs before he could mention that one incident. “Since a Sith tried it on Jesse once,” Fives corrected himself. 

“And that’s probably why you need the chips,” Slick said. “And I don’t wanna hear more about _Jesse._ Or _Cody._ Or any of you _Republic dogs._ ”

Ahsoka realized it was time to get to the point. “Slick, the Jedi knew nothing about the chips,” she said. “I just want to know who is behind them, since they want me dead.”

“And why would I believe you?” Slick asked mockingly. 

“They tried to make Rex kill me,” she said. “And I know him well enough to know that it wasn't his choice.”

“What makes you feel think Rex wouldn’t want you dead?” Slick said “That’s the height of hubris, to think that you can enslave someone and them show up and be friends?”

“If Rex wanted me dead, he’d probably try to get me away from Fives and Echo first. He wouldn’t try to shoot me during breakfast without telling Bo-Katan of his plan. He’s not stupid.”

“And that’s what you were trying to do with me I assume,” Rex said. "Get me alone and then kill me. That's why you wanted to _hang out_."

“Why would I answer that?” he spat.

“We’ll give you your freedom,” Rex said. “Don't get me wrong, I want you gone. But I don’t wanna sink to the Republic’s level unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Fives glared at Rex, but Slick sighed. “It’s probably my best chance. Fine, I’ll talk. No, I wasn’t planning to kill you. I was going to turn you in for desertion and collect the bounty. I’d get some cash, and you could go back to the Republic you apparently like so much.”

“Like I said before, this isn’t alliance isn't us siding with the Republic. This is us getting a pardon and being recognized as sentient beings.”

"Whatever makes you sleep at night." Slick said, rolling his eyes. "And about those chips, I knew nothing about them. Though I'm not surprised they're a thing."

"Are you sure about that?" Ahsoka said, staring at him intently.

"Yes, Jedi scum," he spat.

"He's telling the truth," Ahsoka said.

"How can you tell?" Rex asked.

"I can feel someone's intentions through the force," she explained. "He's not trying to lie. He's trying to cooperate so I'll leave sooner."

"Like I wasn't making that obvious," Slick scoffed.

Rex sighed "Why, Slick?"

"Because you were putting us all at risk. If the Republic found out about us, we'd all be executed. I figured it was fair you took that fall. It was your choice, after all."

"Okay," Rex said "You're banished, then. You'll be brought to the next town over the day after tomorrow. If you want to get your chip removed, ask Coric. I won't stop him. But you're banished after that, and you won't be welcome back on this base."

With that, Rex left. Fives and Ahsoka followed him.

"Are you sure he won't rat you out to the Republic again?" Fives asked. "I mean, he might do so as revenge."

"He can't," Rex said "This planet is basically ours. And most of it is very thick, swampy jungle. We live on the highlands, which are drier and suitable for farming and settlements. We have this world's only interplanetary transmitter, and all the other villages and towns have to route their traffic through ours. We can filter out any suspicious communication traffic." 

"Okay," Fives said "How did you get to have this whole planet to yourself?"

"This is Hutt space," Rex "Small, poorly inhabitable planets like this usually end up under the control of a cartel. And the locals are very happy it's just us."

"Just us?" Ahsoka asked. 

"We're the _steal people's stuff, maybe kill some slavers_ kind of pirates. They could've done a lot worse. And we don't steal from them, and consider them allies. Slick will be fine with them. I just don't want to see him ever again" 

"That's probably for the best," Ahsoka said. "But that does mean we have no way to find out who gave you that order."

"Well... We have another lead," Fives said.

"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.

"The ones who put these chips in us," Fives said. "Maybe we should pay our home planet a visit."


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo-Katan and her strike force attack the Hutt's palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a redesign for Bo-Katan. It's an edit, so some parts are literally the original art.  
> 

The strike force reverted to realspace above the world of Nar Gratta, renamed by the Hutt who owned it, as close as they could with the local gravity wells.

At last, after all this time, she would have her revenge against that maggot, Bo-Katan thought as her force formed up around her ship and activated their scanners.

“Report,” Bo-Katan demanded as her force approached their target.

_“Standard air defences, only one fighter squadron that we know about and maybe a company of guards at the palace, so no change from our last briefing,”_ her second in command reported.

“Excellent,” she smiled. “Begin the attack.”

She got various affirmatives from the pilots in her force and her fighters and bombers raced ahead of the transports.

Their mission was to soften up the defences and allow the transports to get in close enough to deploy straight into the palace.

As the transports burned through the atmosphere, moving from the black of space to the dreary grey/brown of this world's sky, the fighters reached their targets.

The enemy fighters didn’t stand a chance, none of them made it off the ground as the Jaig Eyes fighters tore through them.

Next came the bombers, launching their payloads of proton and concussion missiles into the reinforced defences of the palace, tearing them to pieces.

“You’re clear to begin landing,” her fighter commander informed her.

“Thank you, Sky,” she replied, as her ship screamed over the treetops, before coming to an abrupt stop above the palace.

“Alright Jaig Eyes, let's give 'em hell!” she yelled over the comm, as the cargo doors opened and she jumped out. 

There was a roar over the comm as the rest of her force followed her out, jumping from their transports and using their jet packs to slow their descent.

The ground forces that had been stunned by the initial attack were slowly beginning to recover and began firing at them as they dropped towards them.

But they were only Hutt mercenaries that lacked any decent training and her force poured fire back at them, quickly silencing any resistance.

As they landed, the palace doors opened and reinforcements charged out, only to run into the guns of half her force, which quickly mowed them down.

After that the battle descended into a series of small skirmishes across the grounds as the last pockets of resistance were tracked down and eradicated.

When the last guard fell, Bo-Katan tasked a quarter of her force with securing the grounds and preparing for any counter-attack launched from the nearby city, while the rest formed up at the palace’s entry points, awaiting the command to breach.

Bo-Katan headed for the main entrance, picking her way through the scores of bodies that lined the road to the main gate, pleased that none of her own force had been killed so far.

“They’ve locked themselves in the palace,” one of her people said as she approached the main entrance, and even though she was wearing a helmet, Bo-Katan could practically see her smirk.

“Poor Bantha’s,” Bo-Katan muttered, shaking her head. “We’d better get in there before they get too lonely.”

“With pleasure,” the woman said, removing a bunch of explosives from her pack.

The charges were rigged and they all moved to the side of the doors as the detonator was triggered, blowing the doors inward.

They rushed inside, blasting anything that moved, resistance was heavy, but the Jaig Eyes were superior in every way and continued to push the guards back with minimal casualties.

It was slow going though, as the palace had a lot of rooms that they had to clear as they advanced further and further into the Hutt’s lair, costing them valuable time that allowed the defenders to recover somewhat and prepare defences against them.

At one particularly tight point, the guards had created a very effective choke point, complete with a portable shield generator, that was proving very difficult to get past.

“Hold them here, I’ll come round behind and clear them out,” Bo-Katan said.

Her lieutenant nodded and reloaded his blasters before unleashing a torrent of fire that flared against the shield, but otherwise did no damage. 

It did however provide her cover to cross the hallway and leap out the window, where she engaged her jetpack and flew up to the roof.

She landed lightly and ran along, looking for anything that could serve as an entry point, finding one quickly in the form of a large skylight.

She shot out the glass and jumped through, not even needing her jetpack as she landed on her feet, turning it into a roll towards the nearest cover, ready to blast anything even remotely threatening.

The room she was in was probably the Hutt’s throne room, judging from the decorations and other things on display.

But she didn’t waste time admiring it, blasting the guards that rushed over to see what had come through, and when no more appeared, she made her way back to where her soldiers were fighting to get past the barricade.

After clearing the hall outside the throne room she burst into the next room and shot the nearest guards, noticing these ones looked different to the rest.

The rest of the room was full of enemies and she realised why they were different.

They were Zygerrians, each one carrying an electro whip and standing around a group of Twi’lek slaves.

The slavers smiled evilly at her as they brandished their whips, while she reloaded and considered her best course of action.

There were too many of them to shoot before they got their whips around her and negated the advantage her weapons gave her and likely rendered her unable to fight.

What she needed was a distraction, which just happened to arrive at that moment in the form of someone diving through the open window and shooting at the nearest slavers.

She took advantage of it to kill the slavers closest to her before working her way around the room.

In less than twenty seconds, they were all dead, leaving just the terrified Twi’lek’s and the one who’d caused the distraction, who she turned to face, expecting it to be one of her strikeforce.

But it wasn’t, not with that distinctive blue and white armour, wearing a black jetpack that clashed strangely with his armour.

“Echo?” she said, confused. “What are you doing here?”

“I felt like tagging along,” he said, reloading his blasters.

Bo-Katan shook her head, but decided it was something she could pursue later, there was still a battle to win after all.

“Stay here,” she told the Twi’leks. “We’ll finish off these slaver scum then I’ll have someone come and free you.”

They nodded blankly, evidently still in shock.

Then Bo-Katan headed for the door she hadn’t come through and Echo followed.

She slapped the controls and the door hissed open, revealing a long hallway with the guards at the far end, still firing through their shield as her forces kept them busy.

She was just about to charge out, guns blazing, when Echo held up a hand, then pulled out a thermal detonator from somewhere and held it out to her.

Despite herself, she smirked as she took it.

“Thanks,” she said, priming it, before lobbing it down the hall.

It bounced along and came to rest against the shield projector as the timer clicked to zero.

The resulting explosion killed everything nearby and set a storm of shrapnel flying through their doorway.

The shield also died and her forces came pouring through.

They stepped into the open so that they weren’t mistaken for the enemy as her people came towards them.

“This rooms clear,” she told them when they reached her. “Push forward to the hanger, make sure this maggot doesn’t get away.”

They nodded and as the rest of her force passed through, Bo-Katan pulled Echo aside.

“Why are you here?” she demanded. “Did your Jedi tell you to keep an eye on me?”

“What? No,” Echo said firmly. “Much as I enjoyed the break from fighting at your base, I wanted to get out again and actually do something productive or destructive. And if I had to watch another minute of Rex trying to impress the Commander…” he trailed off.

“It is rather… painful to watch, isn’t it,” Bo-Katan smirked. “And those are the only reasons you decided to join my strike team?” she asked, cocking her head.

“Ahh… yes,” he said a little too quickly.

Bo-Katan rolled her eyes, a gesture hidden by her helmet, and turned to face the sounds of renewed battle.

“Come on then, we’ve got a Hutt to catch,” she said over her shoulder, already running to the fight.

“Yes Sir,” Echo responded automatically, and ran after her.

The battle lasted only a short while longer, as the last of the Hutt’s forces retreated to the hangar in an attempt to cover his escape.

Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t been fast enough, and her troops disabled the shuttle before it could get off the ground.

The remaining guards were quickly dispatched and a squad boarded the shuttle and dragged the squealing Hutt out.

“We have some questions for you, Maggot!” Bo-Katan spat, as he was prodded towards her.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, just don’t hurt me please,” the Hutt squealed.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Bo-Katan asked, removing an extendable shock prod from her belt and switching it on.

The Hutt shrieked as she gave it a few practice swings and she laughed.

“We require information about the Eye’s of Cyclops,” she said, beginning to walk around him, trailing the prod along the ground, which made a rasping sound and evoked further terror from Gratta.

“What do you want to know?” he asked, licking his lips nervously.

“Everything.”

So he told them everything he knew, the location of their base on the moon of Cyclops, around the world of Sarsh in the Doran system , that their force numbered close to one thousand five hundred soldiers plus an unknown amount of slaves, roughly what weapons and starships they used and a number of other things that were useless.

When he finished he was almost gasping for breath.

“There, I’ve told you what you wanted, now let me go,” he demanded in an attempt at sounding authoritative.

Bo-Katan laughed.

“Did I say I’d let you live?” she asked thoughtfully.

The Hutt began to whimper and she jabbed it with the rod, getting a squeal from him.

“Shut up!” she yelled.

The Hutt quietened, and she moved around to face him and removed her helmet.

“Remember me?” she asked.

The Hutt focused on her for a moment and she saw recognition dawn in his eyes.

“It was just a business arrangement,” he screamed. “It wasn’t personal.”

“It was to me,” she said coldly, drawing her blaster.

He tried to wriggle away, but he was far too slow as Bo-Katan took careful aim and emptied her entire clip into him. Then she reloaded and did it again and again even though he was long dead.

She felt a single tear trickling down her cheek as she reloaded again, then felt a hand on her shoulder.

She turned to find Echo there and no one else.

“He’s dead,” he said quietly. 

She blinked, then looked away, pulling her helmet back on, feeling only slightly ashamed that she let her hatred get the better of her, and confused that she didn’t feel any better after killing the thing that had caused her so much pain.

But she pushed that aside as she gave him a nod and called up her Commanders.

“Secure the Palace,” she ordered.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex tries to make up for trying to attack Ahsoka, and they get an unexpected mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tabby here: I wanna apologize for being inactive on my other fics, real life has been a lot of work. Thanks for understanding :)

Ahsoka sighed. She had made a plan to infiltrate Kamino, but there was no way it would work now.

She was going to need an excuse to get in, and she needed at least two clones, possibly more, to blend in and stand guard while she snooped. They could switch roles of course, but she knew just Fives wouldn't be enough.

And Echo had gone missing, even though Fives kept insisting he was fine and just "doing something somewhere else". She wasn’t too worried about Echo being gone, since Fives knew where he was and he didn’t seem to be worried

Rex wasn't cleared for action yet by Coric, and even if he wanted to, his black armour would stand out and they had dyed all their spare sets black too. Repainting it would not be an option either, since the Kaminoans had added several UV decorations to the armour that only they could see (which was one of the reasons the longnecks hated it when the clones painted the armour). Plus, they’d be able to tell by the matte look with no obvious scratches 

She was taken from her thoughts by a knock on the door. She opened the door, and saw that it was Rex.He was holding a large package in his hands.

"Do you have a moment?" he asked.

"I was making a plan to infiltrate Kamino, but I don’t think I’ll get far now. Since you're not cleared and Echo is nowhere to be found," she said. "It might be better to wait a bit anyway. It’ll be less suspicious."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want them to know you are alive too soon either," Rex said.

"Actually, I do," she said. "If they know I'm alive, they'll assume I killed you, and you'll be safe from the Republic again."

Rex took a deep breath. "I appreciate that, but then you'd have to explain why you didn't leave after that."

"I was planning on pretending like the clone they contacted was a lower ranking pirate, and he was stopped by the others right away,” she explained. “And I'll need to be on the mission to Kamino. They'll be suspicious of clones with no Jedi. So I can’t pretend to be dead.."

“Yeah, that’d work,” Rex said. "We checked the message Slick sent, and he didn’t say I was their Captain, just that he had a single deserter he would turn in if they met us at the marketplace.. He's gone now, by the way. And we have a new chip."

"Good," she said. "I'm glad he got his chip removed."

"We're all getting our chips out," Rex said. "But that wasn't what I came here to tell you."

"Then what is it?" she asked, turning her head slightly.

"I uhm... wanted to thank you for being so amazing, and not blaming me for that uhm... thing," he stammered. "So I figured it was right I gave you this," he said, handing over the package he was holding.

She took it, and almost immediately put it on the cupboard next to the door since it was so heavy. Then she opened it.

Inside the package, there was a full set of what looked like clone armour, but entirely black with the same red paint all the Jaig Eyes wore, and it seemed to be resized. The "helmet", which lay on top of the plates, had also been altered till it was essentially just the front half, with straps to keep it on her head, without crushing her montrals or trapping her lekku. They were the same kind of under the lekku straps that held her head piece up, but she doubted they could hold up the “bucket”.

“You… you got armour resized for me?” she asked, shocked.

“Yeah. It’s the least I can do to make up for… you know. Plus, it’ll prevent you from getting stabbed again.” 

“I really appreciate it,” she said. “But how did you know my size?”

“We used the scans Coric made after you got stabbed.” Rex admitted. 

“Right,” Ahsoka said, unsure how to feel about the privacy implications of that, but she knew that clones didn’t really share the same views on modesty as most natural borns, so she decided to let it go. “Thank you. I really appreciate the gesture.”

“But?” Rex asked nervously, like he was scared she’d not accept it

“I’ve never had armour before, and I’m not sure if it won't impair my movement.” she admitted. “And maybe the helmet will need more straps at the top.”

“If it doesn't fit, it can be altered,” he said. “I could help you test it out if you want to?”

“What did you have in mind?” she asked, getting curious now.

“Well, I still wanna spar if you’re up for it?” he said, his smile a lot more relaxed now.

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “I’ll see you in five minutes. Maybe more, depends on how long it takes to figure out how to put it on.”

“I’ll be at the sparring area near the spaceport, with my comm off. I don’t want Coric finding out I’m sparring, I’m technically not cleared for that yet,” he said.

“I’ll be careful,” she said. 

Rex smiled at her and left her alone to get changed. 

Putting the armour on was easier than she expected, and having watched the clones kit up before definitely helped her figure it out. The armour actually fit quite well, and didn’t hinder her movement at all. Now that she was wearing it, it didn’t feel nearly as heavy as when she was holding it. It was more of a comforting pressure than a burden. 

When she grabbed the still white utility belt, she noticed there was a black kama attached to it. Odd, she knew a kama was a big deal, and while it wouldn’t be too much for a commander, Rex giving her one was a bit much. Most of his own men didn’t have kama’s, and this acknowledgement of her rank was odd. Especially since she’d outrank him in the GAR, but didn’t on his turf.

Still, she put it on, and noticed it had been modified. The holsters had been replaced with standard hooks, the ones that would fit her lightsabers. They could clip to the utility belt too, but this was easier. Rex had also made sure her markings were painted on the faceplate. She knew her own men compared her markings to their paint job a few times, and it was funny that Rex had made the same connection.

Blushing at the thoughtfulness, she grabbed the faceplate. The inside looked unfamiliar to her, and there was no way she’d be able to breathe normally with it on her face. It still had the filters, but she had never tried that. Still, she put it on. It was indeed odd, and she’d definitely needed to get used to it. The HUD was interesting, she thought as she closed the straps around her neck, and looked around, taking in her new field of vision. 

After a few moments, she took the faceplate off and clipped it to the belt. She’d get used to it later, she had a sparring session to attend to. Plus, it wouldn’t stay on without a top strap anyway. When she left the main building, she considered stopping by the armoury to thank the armourer, but she knew that was near the medbay and Rex had deliberately picked a spot on the other side of the base’s centre to avoid getting spotted by Coric. So she decided she’d just go to Rex, and thank the armourer later.

On the way there, several Jaig Eyes gave her confused looks, but they didn’t say anything. Maybe it was the new armour?

Rex was waiting for her in the same spot she had seen him when she had first arrived on base, a few weeks ago. He had removed his cape and command wing, but had kept the kama on, essentially matching her armour. 

“It looks great on you,” he said as another shuttle landed in the spaceport.

“It fits a lot better than I expected,” she admitted. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,” he said. “Till 10 seconds control or tap-out?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, and lunged at him.

Rex immediately grabbed her wrists, but she grabbed his chest-plate and kicked his legs out under him. He broke his fall and she landed on top of him. 

Then Rex wrapped his legs around her waist, trapping her between them. He wrapped his arm around her neck to choke her, but he quickly realized her lekku prevented him from grabbing his own wrist, and he couldn’t put the pressure on her. She put her elbow in his knee, forcing his legs apart so she could pass through his guard and sat on his waist, pinning him down, while Rex grabbed her arms and pulled her down, ready to sweep her.

Then, Rex realized he couldn’t roll them over since she was on his hips now, and she'd have him in her guard if he tried it. He looked to the side, to see that her lekku were hanging next to his face. Ahsoka looked at him intensely, and she realized they were both trapped. Rex could try to buck her off, but he wasn’t doing that. Possibly because it was always a little weird, but the other clones she had sparred with hadn’t had a problem with it. 

He just looked up at her. 

“What is it?” she teased. “Out of tricks?”

“You’re… much stronger than I thought you’d be,” he said, smiling at her.

“Is that a compliment?” she asked, one eye marking raises.

“Yes,” he said, as he slowly let go of her arm and cupped her face.

She shivered at the gentle contact, but she leaned into to contact a little.

“Thank you,” she whispered, as he slowly pulled her in. 

“You’re welcome,” he said, closing his eyes.

She closed her eyes too.

“I think that means she won,” Anakin said, making Ahsoka sit up and turn around instantly and Rex freeze underneath her. 

“Master!” she said. “We didn’t know you were here. How long have you been here?

“Long enough to see you spar with him. I didn’t wanna interrupt, but Ahsoka held a dominant position for ten seconds. She won.”

Rex just looked shocked and unsure of what to do, so Ahsoka took the lead. 

“I did,” she said, getting off Rex and helping him up. Rex got up, looked at Anakin, and then just looked to the ground, avoiding both their eyes.

“Are you okay?” Anakin asked Rex.

“Are you going to try to turn me in?” Rex asked. “For desertion?”

“No, I won’t,” Anakin said “Don’t worry about that. Ahsoka can vouch for me. Could you help me find Captain Rex?”

“He’s uhm… well…” Rex stammered, as he seemed to realize that Anakin didn’t know who he was.

“I know my way around here now,” Ahsoka said, trying to save Rex from having to lie. “We should probably look in the mess first, and then check his office.. I’ll come with you.” She gave Rex a quick nod and led Anakin away.

“So… They have a deserter here?” Anakin asked after Rex ran away in the direction of the armoury, hopefully to get his helmet and to meet her at his office.

“Yes,” Ahsoka said. “Though I don’t think he’d want me to talk about him. He uhm… has his reasons to distrust the Republic.”

“He seemed pretty close with you though,” Anakin said. 

“Yeah, I know. It took some time for me to gain his trust,” she lied. “And that was under the condition that I don’t tell the Republic anything about him, so keep your mouth shut.”

“Alright, alright,” Anakin said as they arrived in the mess.

“No sign of Rex here,” Ahsoka said. Several Jaig eyes tilted their buckets at her. She nodded politely at them, and turned around to head back to the main building.

“Why were they looking at you like that?” Anakin asked.

“Probably the new armour” she admitted “I just got it today.”

“I got you some new clothes too” Anakin said “Is there anything else you need by the way?”

“Yes, they’re low on bacta,” she said. “And we’d need some new sets of clone armour.”

“What do you need clone armour for?” He asked.

“They’re out of spare armour,” she lied.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Anakin said. “But the clone armour would be hard to justify. Since there’s no reason for natural borns to want it.”

“They figured out how to resize it,” she said, as they head for Rex's office.

They reached Rex’s office, and Ahsoka knocked on the door. “Captain? General Skywalker is here,” she said.

Silence.

Then, Rex came around the corner, helmet back on his head and with a power cell that was currently charging his helmet in the ammo pouch on his chest.

“General Skywalker,” he said. “I didn’t expect you here.”

“I tried to call in that I was arriving but they couldn’t get a hold of you,” he said apologetically. “I was nearby and the Chancellor suggested I stop by to check up on my padawan.”

“The chancellor himself?” Rex asked. 

“Yes, he’s basically been a mentor to me since I joined the Jedi order.”

“And you didn’t think to check up on me yourself?” Ahsoka asked.

“Well, this is a little off the route,” Anakin admitted. “So normally, I wouldn’t have been allowed to make this detour. But the Chancellor seemed worried about me leaving you here with a bunch of pirates, no offence.” 

“None taken,” Rex said. “At the pirate part, that is. I’m a bit offended at the implication she wouldn’t be safe with us.”

“I mean, I know you’re trustworthy” Anakin said “But you’re still pirates. And leaving a young girl with pirates just sounds like a bad idea to people who haven’t met you guys.”

“I’m almost seventeen,” Ahsoka muttered. “And I’m a Jedi. I can handle myself.”

“Yes, but the Chancellor still sees you as a child,” Anakin said. “Leaving you here might help change that though. I’m really proud of you, snips.”

“Thanks, Skyguy,” she said.“Do you think you can get us the supplies I asked for?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Anakin said. “When do you need them?”

“As soon as possible,” Ahsoka said “We’re out of bacta and spare armour, and we need them for the next mission.”

“Okay. Well, I can’t get you anything within the next month. You know what the Republic is like. But… I have another idea.”

“What is it?” Rex asked.

“Well, I have two spare freighters. I could fill up one of them with the supplies you need and send them to the 104th. My fleet is still nearby, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to intercept that freighter. You could _steal_ that freighter, and just send all my men back to me on the other freighter,” Anakin hinted. “Plus, I’m sure Jesse would love the opportunity to check up on you, Ahsoka.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ahsoka agreed.

“Well you’ll need to move out soon,” Anakin warned. “I can’t take too long without the Republic becoming suspicious.”

“Wait, I thought we weren’t supposed to attack Republic vessels as part of our alliance,” Rex said.

“I know,” Anakin said “So the vessel will be attacked by unidentified pirates.”

“Alright,” Rex said. “When and where will we find this freighter?”

“I’ll send Ahsoka the coordinates,” Anakin said. “They’ll be there in two hours.” 

“Alright,” Rex said “Thank you, Skywalker.”

“Of course,” Anakin said “Oh and Rex? I accidentally ran into a deserted clone while I was looking for you. I think I scared him. Please make sure he’s okay.”

“Yes sir,” Rex said. Ahsoka cringed. Even with the heavily modulated voice, it was clear he was on autopilot from the unexpected visit, since he’d never address Anakin as “Sir” normally.

Anakin raised an eyebrow at him, noticing the slip up too.

“Sir is his name,” Ahsoka lied. “He said “Yes, Sir.” As in, the clone named Sir.”

“Why would he name himself Sir?” Anakin asked. “I don’t think he’d make many friends with a name like that.” 

“There’s a reason he deserted,” Ahsoka joked.

“Okay. Well, you seemed pretty close with him too. Make sure he’s not freaking out.”

“Will do,” Ahsoka said.

“Right,” Anakin said “I gotta go, I have to inform my men of the mission.” 

“Alright,” Rex said.

“Bye!” Ahsoka said “Thanks for checking up!”

Anakin nodded and left.

Both of them looked at him leaving and stood there in silence for a few moments, trying to process what just happened.

Then, they heard boots marching angrily down the corridor, from the other side. They turned around to see Coric, without his helmet, clearly pissed off, coming straight at Rex.

“What did I tell you about wearing your helmet?”

“General Skywalker showed up,” Rex said.

“Sure he did,” Coric scoffed.

“He did,” Ahsoka said.

“Why didn’t I get the warning?” Coric asked.

“Probably a communication error,” Rex said.

“Yeah,” Ahsoka said. “Everyone else was wearing their buckets.”

“Let’s hope he didn’t see anyone’s face,” Coric said. 

“Yeah... “ Rex said “About that…”

“Oh Fett, he saw you without your bucket didn’t he?” Coric asked, horrified.

“Yeah,” Rex said “But he didn’t know it was me”

“Okay then,” Coric sighed. “Though Fives told me Jedi can easily tell us apart by our force signature.”

“Yeah, my master is as oblivious as a bantha though,” Ahsoka said. “You’d have known if he noticed.”

“I suppose I got lucky then,” Rex said. “I’m gonna prepare to move out.”

“No you’re not,” Coric said. “You’re still on sick leave.”

“Well, with Bo-Katan gone, we’ll need someone to lead them. And I don’t think they’ll want Ahsoka to lead the mission.”

Coric looked at Ahsoka, and raised an eyebrow.

“Sir, why does she have armour?” he asked.

Ahsoka tried not to laugh at that, and Coric shot her a confused look but Rex ignored her and answered. “I didn’t want her to get stabbed again. Plus, I wanted to make up for what I did.” 

“Okay then,” Coric said. “Isn’t that a little… soon though?”

“What do you mean?” Ahsoka asked.

“Nothing,” Coric said, and then he turned to Rex and asked something in mando'a. The only word she could make out was “aliit”, which she knew meant “clan” or “family”.

“Nayc,” Rex said. “Su nayc.” Ahsoka understood that, but she wasn’t sure what he meant with “not yet”, especially since she didn’t understand the rest of the conversation.

“ _Su_ nayc?” Coric asked.

“Lek?” Rex said, sounding a bit unsure of the “yes” he gave Coric.

“Ugh, whatever,” Coric said. “Regardless of her status, you can’t get into a fight so soon after a brain surgery.”

“Oh it won’t be much of a fight,” Ahsoka said. “We have permission to take the ship. It’s easier to take them from my master than to deal with the Republic’s paperwork.”

“But the Captain is wounded,” Coric said. “Give me one good reason to let him _steal_ this ship.”

“The supplies are mostly bacta,” Ahsoka said with a grin.

Coric opened his mouth to say something, and then he closed it. Then, he said “Alright, I’m convinced. But I’m coming with you to make sure he doesn’t injure himself further.” 

“Sounds good to me,” Ahsoka said.

“You’re not in charge here,” Coric said, slightly irritated. “Not that _he_ seems to remember that.”

“Coric,” Rex said, threateningly.

“Is it the Kama?” Ahsoka blurted out.

Both men were silent for a moment.

“...Yes,” Coric said, though she could tell that that still wasn’t exactly true. “Well, it’s more than that.”

“Well, she is a commander,” Rex argued.

“Not in our chain of command. She’s a rookie, Vod,” Coric said.

“I can stop wearing it until I’ve earned it,” Ahsoka offered.

“You have,” Rex said, but Coric shot him a death glare. 

Coric turned to her, and his expression softened a bit when he saw the confusion on her face.

“It’s just that… armour is for members only,” Coric explained. “And you haven’t officially joined us. So Rex’s attempt to make it up to you is gonna cause a lot of confusion.”

“But we should get ready for the next raid,” Rex said. “We’ll move out in ten.”

“Alright,” Ahsoka said. “See you in the hangar, sir,” she teased him. 

Rex opened his mouth to protest, but then he smiled. Coric just shot him a confused look. 

“I’ll explain later. Let’s go!” Rex ordered, and the two clones made it to the hangar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :) let me know what you think


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo-Katan and her team finish up at the palace and someone else arrives on the same mission.

The palace was secured quickly, mainly due to the fact that anything that might have put up resistance was already dead and allowed the Jaig Eye’s to move on to the more important task of stripping the place of anything that was valuable or useful to them.

Bo-Katan smirked as she walked out of the palace’s main entrance, the elevated position giving her a good view of her force as they rushed back and forth between the palace and the landing pad, where more of her people were sorting through what was dragged out and either loading it into one of their cargo ships or tossing it aside.

Echo was also with her, observing the activity in silence, which surprised her a bit, she thought he’d object to the piracy, but evidently there was more to him than it seemed.

In another area, under a makeshift shelter, the medics of her force were busy checking over the slaves, over a hundred by the looks, making sure they were alright and removing any chips, collars and tracking implants they might have and she nodded almost imperceptibly to herself, the former slaves would be taken to their base for the time being, then they’d help them return home if that was what they wanted, otherwise they’d give them what assistance they could and drop them on a world of their choosing. If they wanted to, they’d even have the opportunity to stay on Araden, the smaller towns always needed more workers for the harvest seasons.

There was a sudden shout of delight from the sorting pile and they both glanced over there to see a few people gathered around a bunch of crates, slapping each other on the back and making lots of noise.

Curious, she and Echo made their way down to them.

“What’s got you lot so excited?” she asked when they reached them.

“This,” one of them said, kicking the crate. “Spice, and lots of it. We think about twelve million credits worth.”

Bo-Katan blinked as Echo said “Wow” softly.

“That’s a lot,” she said after a moment.

“Yeah,” the man grinned. “With this on top of everything else, we should come away with at least thirty million credits worth of stuff.”

Bo-Katan whistled.

“That should keep us going for a while,” she said. “Good work.”

“Thank you Commander,” they said.

She nodded in reply, then turned and walked away, Echo still following along behind her.

They walked in silence to a spot where they were alone but could still observe everything.

After a bit of silence, she glanced at the clone and noticed him twitch slightly as he turned his head away, evidently he’d been watching her again and from his body language, she could tell he was concerned about something.

She sighed, then turned to him.

“What is it trooper?” she asked.

“Nothing Sir,” he replied automatically.

“What’s with the concerned look then?

He stiffened slightly, then seemed to come to some sort of decision.

“Are you alright?” he asked quietly.

She froze, that was not what she’d been expecting.

“It’s just… the last time I saw a brother do what you did, they ended up…” he trailed off, but she got the message.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “That Hutt and I… well let's just say we have history and leave it at that.”

“Okay,” Echo nodded. “But if you ever want to talk…”

“You’ll be first on my list,” she said drily.

“Okay,” he said again, turning back to where the newly freed slaves were boarding another transport ship.

“This is what I thought fighting for the Republic would be like,” he said quietly, after a bit of silence. “Righting wrongs and protecting those that can’t protect themselves.”

“It’s not all like this,” Bo-Katan said. “But if you ever get tired of serving the Republic, we’re always looking for new members.”

“Thanks,” Echo said with a small smile, watching as the last of the former slaves were helped on board and the transport lifted off.

They watched it till it vanished from sight, then they walked back to the team sorting the loot.

“What happens next?” Echo asked when they stopped.

Bo-Katan turned to him.

“Next, we return to base and brief the Captain, then we wipe this scum out once and for all.”

“A good plan,” he agreed grimly.

“Yes,” Bo-Katan smirked, as a worried sounding voice came over her comm.

_“Commander, there are unknown ships approaching your location.”_

“”How many Sky?” Bo-Katan asked.

_“At least a dozen, mostly shuttles and other transports, with three fighters as escorts.”_

“Connect me to them, I’ll find out what they want,” Bo-Katan growled.

_“Yes Commander,”_ Sky responded, and Bo-Katan pulled out her holocom as the connecting symbol appeared.

After a moment the call was accepted and a red Zabrak male appeared in her palm.

_“To whom am I speaking?”_ he demanded.

“The Jaig Eyes,” Bo-Katan answered. “You’re entering our territory, what are your intentions?”

_“Really?”_ the Zabrak replied thoughtfully. _“I was under the impression that this world belonged to Gratta the Hutt.”_

“It did, until about four hours ago,” she smirked. “What business did you have with him?”

_“He supports a group of pirates that have been… disrupting my interests, I’m here to… teach him the error of his decision.”_

“Well, you’re too late, he’s already dead,” she stated.

A dark scowl flashed across his face, but it vanished almost immediately.

_“I see,”_ he growled. _“Then perhaps you can provide the information we need.”_

“Perhaps,” she said. “Depends on what it is you need to know.”

_“The location of the Eyes of Cyclops’s base of operations.”_

“And what do you need that for?” she asked.

_“So we can wipe them out,”_ he said with another growl.

A grim smile spread across Bo-Katan’s face.

“It seems we have similar goals,” she said. “If you land your shuttle in the main landing bay, we can discuss this in person.”

_“Very well,”_ he said, and the call ended.

As soon as his holo disappeared, Bo-Katan began giving orders to her troops, telling them to prepare for anything, before pulling on her helmet as three shuttles descended from the sky and landed on the pad.

She approached them with Echo and half a dozen other Jaig Eyes as the ramps lowered with a hiss and a dozen heavily armoured soldiers stepped out.

“Death Watch,” Bo-Katan said quietly as they formed up around the middle shuttle and stood at attention as the Zabrak she’d been talking to descended the ramp, closely followed by a second, even bigger Zabrak, this one with yellow skin. The sound of the red one’s footsteps on the ramp was oddly metallic.

As he drew closer, she noticed the cause of the noise, his lower half was made up entirely of prosthetics and she was impressed he’d survived whatever had caused it.

“Well, what is your offer?” the red one growled when they reached them.

“It’s simple, you want the Cyclops’s dead, so do we, what I propose is a joint strike against them, our combined forces will easily be a match for their superior numbers,” she stated.

“How superior?” he asked.

“Latest estimates put their numbers at about fifteen hundred warriors,” she replied.

The Zabraks scoffed.

“Nothing we can’t handle,” the yellow one said.

Bo-Katan scoffed this time.

“You’ve obviously never fought these animals before, they’re exceptional fighters even if they are savages and alone, even the Death Watch wouldn’t stand a chance,” she replied.

That got some growls and dark muttering from the assembled Death Watch members.

“And your forces would?” The Zabrak asked.

“We know how to fight them, though it would still be a challenge,” she admitted.

“I see,” he mused thoughtfully. “And you’ll share this knowledge with us if we agree to this joint strike?”

Bo-Katan nodded.

“Yes, we’ll share what we know, you share what you know.”

“Sounds… fair,” he muttered, eyeing her forces speculatively. 

“Agreed then?” Bo-Katan said, holding out her hand to shake.

“Agreed,” he said, shaking her hand.

“Take this,” she said, handing him the spare comm she carried. “I’ll send you the coordinates for the rendezvous and from there we’ll move on to their base.”

“Not very trusting are you?” He smiled.

“No,” she agreed.

“You could give me your name at least, so we know who we’re working with,” he said.

“I suppose I could,” she said. “It’s Bo-Katan.”

“Ahh,” he said. “I’ve heard of you.”

“All bad probably,” she smirked.

“Yes, it was,” he agreed, turning to leave.

“What do I call you?” she asked.

“You may call me… Lord Maul,” he said with a slightly twisted smile, before walking back to his shuttle and disappearing up the ramp.

Bo-Katan snorted and shook her head as the ramp raised and they began preparations for lift off.

Soon after, the shuttles lifted off and returned to space and not long after that Sky confirmed that they’d left the system.

“Alright, saddle up, we’re going home,” Bo-Katan shouted. “And you’re coming with me,” she added, grabbing Echo as he tried to head for the ship he’d snuck in on. “I want to keep an eye on you this time.”

Echo nodded and they headed for her ship, quickly boarding then preparing for take off.

Once the pre-flight checklists were done, Bo-Katan fired up the engines and they rocketed up to space.


	18. Chapter 18

Two hours after they left the base, the Jaig hunter dropped out of hyperspace.

“I spotted two Republic freighters,” Rev said. “Just as expected.”

“Contact them,” Rex said as he disconnected his safety harness.

“Sir?” the pilot asked. 

“They already know we’re coming” Rex said “might as well tell them we’re going to dock to them.”

“Good idea,” Fives said. “I wonder who’s on that ship.”

Ahsoka reached out with the force. 

“Jesse is there, so are Kix and Hardcase,” she said.

“So they’re going to ask where Echo is,” Fives said.

“Are you getting worried about him?” Ahsoka asked.

“Nah, he’s probably fine. I’m just being irrational” Fives said.

“Do you even know where he is?” 

“Approximately.”

“We got a line,” Rev, the pilot, said. 

Rex put on his helmet and grabbed the commlink. “This is Captain Rex of the Jaig eyes. Prepare to be boarded”

“Real smooth Cap,” came a clone’s voice.

“Did you want us to not warn you?” Rex asked

“We were supposed to report that we were ambushed by unidentifiable pirates. That’s kinda hard now.”

“Shut up Hardcase. We’re gonna lose this freighter anyway, so it’s not like the Republic will ever see those logs” another clone said “I’m Captain Jesse by the way. It’s nice to meet you.” 

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Rex said, still confused by this interaction. 

“He’s my second in command,” Ahsoka said.

Rex nodded and saw that one of the docking ports lit up. This would be a normal docking then. 

“Dock to that port,” Rex said, and Rev nodded. 

After they heard the signature clang of the docking ports making contact, they all got out of their seats and got ready to meet The others. Rex and Ahsoka in front, Coric and Fives behind them. 

“This is gonna be a disaster,” Fives whispered to Coric.

“How so?” Coric asked.

“Five credits Rex is gonna make this weird.” 

“I don’t bet,” Coric said. “And I was going to agree.”

The door opened, revealing Jesse, Hardcase and Kix.

“Hey guys,” Ahsoka said with a grin.

“Commander, it’s good to see you again,” Jesse said, snapping to attention immediately.

“At ease” she said with a slight smile. “It’s good to see you guys again.”

“We missed you too, commander,” Jesse said “I see you’ve finally started wearing armour. _Their armour_ ”

“Yeah. This set actually fits,” she said. 

She walked into the freighter, followed by the others. Jesse glared at Rex.

“Did you guys offer her armour too?” Rex asked.

“Yeah,” Jesse said “I’m surprised she accepted it from you.” 

“It’s because this fits,” she said.

“Well, it's not like clone armour can be resized,” Kix argued.

“Yes it can,” Rex said “It just takes some trial and error. But you gotta accommodate for natural borns somehow.” 

“I can tell your armour needs a resize. You’re a bit too chubby for it,” Hardcase joked.

Ahsoka could feel Rex frown under his helmet, so she decided to interrupt before he gave away who he actually was. 

“Hardcase, that's rude!” She scolded, albeit teasingly. 

“So is stealing armour and then gifting it to _our_ Commander,” Jesse scoffed.

“Let’s not fight here,” Fives said.

“You know why I’m upset,” Jesse said.

“But she doesn’t,” Fives argued. “So don’t read things into it.”

Jesse stared at his brother, and then shook his head. “Alright,” he said, before turning to Rex. “I’m sorry, Rex. Let’s.. try to get along. For her.”

“Yeah,” Rex said. “Let’s do that. You got the stuff?” 

“Yeah,” Jesse said, gesturing to eight crates “Two sets of new armour, five crates of bacta and a bacta growing kit.”

“A growing kit?” Coric asked excitedly, “Like… I could make my own bacta?”

“Yeah,” Kix said. “That way you won’t run out again. How did you run out of it anyway?”

“We only steal about half of the bacta on board the ships we raid,” Rex explained. “And we don’t raid medical frigates. So we don’t get enough bacta to treat all injuries. I had to get regular stitches in my head recently”

“Do you want me to take a look at that?” Kix asked.

“Ah, uhm. No.” Rex said “I don’t wanna take my helmet off. It’s not the way.”

“Ah, right. You’re a child of the watch, right?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah,” Rex said .

“Then how did you get stitches in the head?” Hardcase asked.

“I can take my helmet off in emergencies,” Rex said.

“I thought you were just supposed to die honorably, according to _the way_?” Jesse teased.

“I’m not that strict,” Rex said. “And I’d prefer my own medic,’ he added, gesturing at Coric.

“You’re a medic too?” Kix asked.

Coric nodded, and Kix's face immediately lit up.

“Great, I’ll talk you through how to grow bacta” he said, practically dragging Coric away from the conversation.

“We should talk in private as well, ” Fives said to Ahsoka. 

“Alright.” Rex said “I’ll stay here and uhm… get to know these two.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said. “We have a couple of questions about you and your pirates.”

“Of course,” Rex said. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

Ahsoka gave him an encouraging smile and followed Fives to the sleeping quarters.

“We still need to talk about that armour,” Fives said as he pushed her inside of the sleeping quarters, closing the door behind him.

“What is it?” She asked

“Do you know what giving someone armour means?” He asked.

“No?” She asked, looking at him in confusion.

“It’s a big gesture in Mandalorian culture,” Fives explained “It basically means someone wants you to join their clan.”

“Oh…” she said, getting a little confused now. “But he’s a… you know. So how would that work?” 

“For us clones, it’s usually more of a unit thing. We tried to give you armour as well when you officially joined the 501st, remember?”

“I do,” she said “I’m sorry for rejecting it. I genuinely didn’t know what it meant.”

“Yeah, we figured” Fives said “And we should’ve resized it in hindsight. We didn’t know it could be that much of a problem if armour didn't fit perfectly back then”

“So… now Jesse thinks I’m leaving them and joining the Jaig Eyes?” She asked

“No.” Fives said. “You’re allowed to join multiple clans as long as there’s no conflict between them. Jesse is just upset because you’re moving a little fast here. We’ve only known them for a few weeks after all.”

“Yeah, but I like Rex.”

“Yeah, me too. But he’s a pirate and won’t show any of them his face. I can see why they don’t,” Fives said.

“Okay, I see what you’re getting at,” she said. “I’ll try to make Jesse see that I still care for them.”

“I’m glad,” Fives said, but then his expression turned grim. “How should we break the news about the chips?”

“I was thinking we shouldn’t,” Ahsoka said.

“Why not? They deserve to know”

“We can’t do anything about it yet. We don’t know who’s behind it, all we know is that they’re part of the republic. We’ll need to know who it is first, and until we do telling them will only stress them out.”

“I guess… but they should at least have their chips removed.” Fives said

“It won’t matter if the three of them remove their chips,” Ahsoka said. “My master won’t stand a chance anyway if… let’s just focus on the upcoming mission.” 

Fives nodded. “It’ll be nice to have a mission again. I was a bit jealous of Echo getting some action.”

Ahsoka raised an eye marking at him. “Echo is getting action?”

Fives just stayed quiet, but then he sighed. “Yeah, he went with Bo-Katan.”

“And he’s… doing what?” she asked.

“Idk, just getting in on the mission. He saw his chance to sneak away and took it. I was supposed to stay behind and keep you distracted. I kind of wanted to be on that mission, but he beat me to it.”

“Okay then,” She said. “At least I know where he is.”

“Yeah,” Fives said. “Hope he doesn’t get into any trouble.”

“He’ll be fine,” Ahsoka said.

They stood in silence for a moment.

“So… you like Rex?” Fives asked.

“What?” Ahsoka asked, but then the intercom activated. 

“Return to the Resolute in 5 minutes,” Anakin’s voice said. “We’ll have to jump soon.”

“We should see the others off,” Ahsoka said. 

‘Yeah,” Fives said. “I’ll grill you about Rex later.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, and left the sleeping quarters.

As they walked back into the main room, Jesse and Hardcase were still talking to Rex, and Kix and Coric were coming out of their corner to rejoin them as well.

“You were right,” Jesse said. “He does seem a lot nicer than we expected.” 

“See? I know how to pick my friends” Ahsoka said with a smile.

“You should probably steal this ship now,” Jesse said. “To the escape pods, then.” 

Before Jesse could leave, she wrapped her arms around his waist, startling him. She could feel Rex get jealous for a second, but he pushed the feeling away.

“I’ll miss you,” she said. 

Jesse awkwardly petted her shoulder. “I’ll miss you too vod’ika.” 

Ahsoka smiled and let go, and turned to Kix. “You too,” she said, before throwing herself at him. The medic was a little better prepared than her Captain had been, and wrapped his arms around her. 

“Take care,” he said.

“I will,” she promised, and she let and moved on to Hardcase.

He actually took the initiative, lifting her off the ground for a moment and squeezing her hard.

Hardcase let go, and then he turned to Rex, who was staring at them. 

“Actually… can I come with you?” Hardcase asked.

“What?” Jesse and Rex asked in unison

“Well, I was planning to uhm… not come back from the next mission if it was a decent planet,” he admitted to Jesse. “But their planet seems nice. So uhm… if you could report that I was killed by pirates today, that would be great.”

Jesse looked at Hardcase, and then he looked at Rex. 

“As long as your General knows we didn’t actually kill him, you’re welcome to come with us. You could join too.” Rex offered. “Just don’t damage our plumbing.” 

“She told you about that, didn’t she?” Hardcase said, gesturing at Ahsoka. 

“Your General did,” Rex said drily.

“I won’t destroy anything, I promise,” he said. 

“Alright,” Jesse sighed. “We’ll miss you.” 

“I’ll miss you guys too,” Hardcase said “But I just don’t feel comfortable staying after Umbara.” 

“I know,” Jesse said, before turning to Rex. “Take care of him.”

“I will,” Rex said. “Don’t worry, we’ve had deserters before.”

“Were they clones?” Kix asked.

‘Yeah, a few” Rex lied. “They adjusted to life outside the GAR pretty well”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, but the intercom turned on again.

“Guys, hurry up please. We’ll have to leave without you if you’re not back in two minutes”

Jesse and Kix exchanged a look and nodded.

“Good luck Hardcase,” Jesse said.

“We’ll check up on you when we can,” Kix promised.

Then, both Kix and Jesse saluted their brother and made their way to the escape pods.

As the door closed behind them, Fives started laughing. 

“What’s so funny?” Coric asked.

“You guys really can’t catch a break with the helmets, can you?” 

“I was just gonna tell him to be honest” Rex said.

“Tell me what?” Hardcase asked.

“I’ll cut the comms of these ships and start going back to base,” Coric said, leaving for the cockpit and starting to detach the ship from the Jaig Hunter.

“Why we wear these helmets,” Rex said. “We’re not children of the watch, as most people assume."

“You’re just ugly then?” Hardcase joked, which made Fives snicker.

“I knew it!” Hardcase said with a grin.

“Your words, not mine” Ahsoka laughed.

Rex laughed too, and then put his hands on his helmet. “See for yourself” he said as he took off his helmet.

Hardcase’s grin faded. “Okay, I was wrong. You’re a lot better looking than I expected.” he said. “Very handsome, actually”

“Hey, this isn’t Tatooine!” Fives joked. “Keep some appropriate distance with your siblings.”

“Says the guy who’s sleeping with his batchmate,” Hardcase retorted.

“We were just sleeping!” Fives exclaimed “He had a nightmare, what else was I supposed to do?”

“I thought you were the one with the nightmare” Hardcase teased “I overheard you guys talking.”

“Shut up,” Fives said, and he pushed Hardcase into the wall. 

Hardcase started fighting back, not seriously but the usual wrestling clones did when they had a minor disagreement.

Ahsoka sighed. “Looks like they’re back on their Bantha poodoo. And with Echo gone we’ll probably be forced to replace him with Hardcase on our mission to Kamino”

“Yeah,” Rex said. “Are they always like this?”

“Often enough, and the Kaminoans really don’t like the 501st for this reason.” she said as Fives and Hardcase were still rolling on the ground.

“Alright. And we have the armour that’ll allow me and Coric to blend in now,” Rex said. “After we get Hardcase settled in.” 

“We can just put him in the same room as with Fives and Echo,” Ahsoka said. “Those two will tire themselves out soon enough, and they’ll get along after that.” 

“Alright,” Rex said as the freighter made its way back to base.

“What did you mean with “mission to Kamino?” just now?” Hardcase asked, as he pushed Fives off him.

“Oh… uhm... “ Rex said “He’ll find out what happened anyway. You should tell him, Fives.”

“”Right,” Fives said as he got up. “Someone told the Republic Rex was a clone, and sent him some kind of order he couldn’t refuse. We found out it’s because he has some kind of control chip in his brain. All clones have one. We all removed ours, and we were going to Kamino get evidence before we tell General Skywalker.”

“What kind of order?” Hardcase asked

“Something about the Jedi being traitors,” Rex said. “I don’t remember it well. But I tried to attack her, so it’s important the Jedi know about it.”

“He tried to... “ Hardcase turned to Ahsoka. “Do you want me to kill him for that?”

“No,” Ahsoka said “I could tell it was only because of the chips.”

“Alright. But I want to help with this mission now,” Hardcase said.

“Now we don’t have to wait for Echo anymore.” Fives said.

“Yes,” Ahsoka said. “Just… Just make sure they don’t know it’s you.”

“Of course, Commander,” Hardcase said.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka, Rex, Fives and Hardcase take a trip to Kamino to investigate the mystery of the chips.

“You’re in that outfit again?” he asked.

“Yeah. I want to avoid any questions from the Kaminoans about the armour. You look…”

“Like a new recruit?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “Though you should work on your body language.”

Rex snapped to attention immediately.

“Better?” he asked.

“Almost,” she said.

“What’s missing?” 

“You’re addressing me too casually,” she said. “You should call me Commander or sir.’

“But Hardcase and Fives-”

“Will also address me with proper protocol while on Kamino,” she finished for him. “I personally prefer it if you’d talk to me like an equal, but the Kaminoans won’t see you like that and you’d get in trouble with them. So you should address me with proper GAR protocol, just so you don’t get caught.”

Rex sighed. “I’m a little rusty, I’m afraid. It’s been over two years.”

“Just do your best,” she said. “Fives and Hardcase could always help you remember.”

“I’m a bit worried about having Hardcase here,” Rex admitted.

“I know, Echo would’ve been better.” she said. “But Hardcase can do it. Trust me.”

“Well, he’s less rusty than I am,” Rex said. ”We should check up on Coric.”

“Yes,.” Ahsoka said. “Walk behind me.”

“Why?” Rex asked.

“You know,” Ahsoka said. “Better to get a little used to protocol already.”

“Yeah,” Rex said, falling behind her. They met Coric near the space port, getting his hair tucked into his collar by Fives.

“Captain!” Fives said. “You look generic as Stang.” 

Rex just stared at him.

Fives’ grin faded. “That’s someone else, isn’t it?”

Ahsoka stared at him for a moment, but then she started laughing. Rex followed, and took his helmet off.

“It’s me.”

“Oh thank the force,” Fives said.

“Where is Hardcase?” Coric asked.

“Still asleep,” Fives said “He’s _enjoying his freedom_ and had oversleeping on the first opportunity on his bucket list.”

“Can you wake him up?”

Fives saluted Rex. “Yes captain!” Fives marched off.

“What’s gotten into him?” Rex asked.

“He’s making fun of the regs again,” Ahsoka said. “Just ignore him. You’re supposed to be inexperienced and low-ranking, so don’t get too comfortable around me.”

“Should we be downright uncomfortable?” Coric asked.

“Most of the new men are just a little nervous and intimidated, and not sure how to deal with a Jedi,” she said. “But they aren’t scared of us, because they know we won’t hurt them.” 

Rex repressed the urge to let out a humourless laugh. Ahsoka was still wrong, Krell had hurt them. But she wasn’t Krell, and she was actually living up and exceeding the expectation the Kaminoans had given them.

Maybe following her would be a lot lot easier because of that.

* * *

Rex looked in the mirror. The white armor looked unfamiliar to him, but it still looked similar enough to his old set of Phase I to trigger the memories of when he was just a freshly demoted Captain on Kamino, ready to ship out to Felucia. He had still been insecure about the reason for his demotion back then, and he’d tried to hide his hair. Now he didn’t feel the need to hide anymore, but it was still better if he wore the bucket anyway.

So he put it on. He mentally cringed at the new visor. His peripheral vision was a little better, but the middle of his field of vision was partially obscured. 

He hated the visor, but the armour did the trick. He looked like a new recruit fresh off Kamino.

He assumed. He had never actually seen a new set of Phase II, since most of the armour they stole went straight to Besk and he never got a good look at the new recruits during the raids on Republic ships. But Ahsoka had seen plenty of new recruits, so he should probably check with her to see how he looked.

He walked down the hallway, feeling a bit uneasy in his new armour.

“Ahsoka?” he asked as he knocked on her door. 

“One moment. I’m still changing.”

Rex waited patiently, and a moment later Ahsoka opened the door. She was wearing an outfit identical to the one she wore when she arrived on base. He’d have assumed it was the same outfit if he didn’t know that particular dress had gotten damaged.

The freighter shook gently as they entered Kamino’s atmosphere.

“How does it feel to be back, Rex?” Fives asked.

“Odd,” Rex admitted. “Never thought I’d be back here.”

“I hadn’t expected to go here immediately after deserting either,” Hardcase said.

“Well, life is weird sometimes,” Coric said.

“So, everyone remembers the plan?” Ahsoka asked.

“Yes. We just pretend to guard you while you snoop through the files,” Rex said. “And we just go from there, since we don’t know what we’re looking for exactly and it won’t be dangerous if we blend in.”

“Yes,” Ahsoka said. “I’ll hail them.”

* * *

They walked down the white corridor. No one was paying any attention to a jedi with four clones, but they hadn’t found anything yet and it’s been hours.

The hall was empty, so she decided to ask the clones for advice. 

“Any ideas where to look?” she asked.

‘Yeah.” Coric said “Those chips had to be implanted at some point.We should check when they were implanted.”

“Probably in the first two years” Rex said “Since I would remember it if it happened after the age of four”

“We should check the embryo room first,” Fives said.

“I’ll go with you,” Coric said. “I know how to use the medical consoles.”

“Hardcase should come too, he’s a good liar,” Fives said. “You two should guard the door.” 

“Why us?” Rex asked.

“Jedi usually don’t go into the embryo rooms, she’d draw more attention than us,” Hardcase said. “The Kaminoans don’t want them to find out what gross things they do to the fetuses there.”

“Plus, she has the best senses and the force,” Fives said. “And Rex has a comm.”

“Alright,” Ahsoka agreed. “Rex and I will keep watch. Just walk in like you belong there, don’t wait for my order.”

Rex nodded in agreement, even though she could tell he wasn’t happy being “the guy with the comm”.

They walked out of the empty corridor, and Ahsoka led them to the embryo room, following the signs.

As soon as they found it, Hardcase, Coric and Fives went into the room right away, and Ahsoka walked past the door, to a bench that appeared to be there for people waiting for an appointment. She sat down casually, and Rex followed her example. 

“At ease,” Ahsoka said.

Rex tilted his bucket at her.

“You were supposed to wait for that before you sat down.”

“Tough luck,” Rex said. “You’re not my CO.”

“I’m just trying to help you to not get in trouble,” she said.

Rex sighed. “I know. It’s just got me a little on edge and I don’t like being treated like this by a Jedi, not even you.” 

“I understand but- wait!”

“Should I call them?” He asked, startled.

“No it’s-“

“Commander Tano?” A familiar voice said. “What are you doing on Kamino?”

“Cody! It’s good to see you!” Ahsoka said as she and Rex both stumbled to their feet. “How’re you?”

“I’m doing well. Just picking up some new recruits” Cody said as he took off his helmet and clipped it to his belt. “You too I assume?”

“Yes,” Ahsoka lied, and then she turned to Rex “Can you check if they are ready to leave?”

“Yes ma’am,” Rex said, and he sent a coded message to the others, informing them that they were caught and had to leave, and to rendezvous with them at the ship. Ahsoka could feel him practically trembling with nerves, since he had clearly not expected to see his batchmate here.

“It’s sir, shiny” Cody corrected him.

“My name isn’t Shiny,” Rex said nervously.

“What did you just say?” Cody said, threateningly.

“My name isn’t Shiny, sir?” Rex stammered.

“Do you think you’re funny?” Cody asked, towering over Rex even though they were the same height. Rex backed into the wall.

“Ahsoka, help?” Rex begged.

“Cody, let him be,” Ahsoka said. “He’s just a shiny.”

“That’s still not my name” Rex said “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Do you genuinely not know what “shiny” means?” Ahsoka asked, and Rex just shook his head.

Ahsoka sighed. “I think we should just be honest. This isn’t going to work, and I’m sure we can trust Cody.

“I would be in way more trouble then,” Rex said, before he realized what he said. He sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I would like to know what you’re talking about now” Cody said, backing down to let Rex have some breathing room.

“Let’s go to the empty office over there,” Ahsoka said, pointing at an office.

“Yes ma’am,” Rex said, earning him a glare from Cody. 

“You should refer to her as Sir,” Cody said. “She’s military.”

Rex just nodded awkwardly and followed Ahsoka and Cody.

“It’s fine,” she said. She could feel Rex tense up, so she fell behind a little, grabbed his hand and rubbed the back of his hand and rubbed it through the armour to calm him down a little.

Cody didn’t notice, but Rex tensed up even more, but then he grabbed her hand back, giving her a squeeze, and relaxed a little.

When they entered the office, she could feel Rex get nervous again. She closed the door behind them and turned the surveillance camera off using the force.

“So, what are you gonna be honest about?” Cody said to Ahsoka. She looked at Rex, who sighed and took his helmet off.

“Hi Cody,” Rex said. “it’s been a while.”

Cody stared at Rex, and then his face lit up.

“Rex?” he asked. “Is that really you?”

“Yeah,” Rex said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. “It’s me.”

Before Rex could say anything, Cody slammed into him, squeezing him as tight as he could.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Cody said.

“I’ve missed you too,” Rex said, as he hugged his batchmate back.

“How did you survive the massacre at Aradan?” Cody asked.

“We uhm…. We all deserted, and we live there now,” Rex said. “Please don’t turn me in.”

“I won’t,” Cody said. “I know what Krell was like. He… He got half of Ghost Company killed.”

“I know,” Rex said. “Ahsoka told me what happened on Umbara.”

Cody let go of Rex and looked at Ahsoka. “You knew he was still alive and you didn’t tell me?”

“He told me not to. I respected that,” she said. “It was his secret to tell anyway.” 

Cody looked at Rex again. “I assumed you wouldn’t understand. And I didn’t know how to tell you,” Rex said.

“I understand,” Cody said “But you came here now.”

“Yeah, but we’re on a mission now.”

“What is it?” he asked.

Rex and Ahsoka exchanged a glance, and agreed.

“We found out I had a control chip in my head, and we need to figure out how it got there,” Rex said.

“We believe it could be used to turn the clones against the Jedi,” Ahsoka explained. “But we need to keep it quiet.” 

“Why can’t you just discuss this with the Kaminaons?” Cody asked.

“They might be behind it,” Rex said. “They’re in on it at least, they’re the ones who put the chips there.”

“You should check the embryo room for evidence,” Cody said.

“Already on it,” Rex said. “We were standing guard when you caught us.”

“Then you should check their communication logs from the start of the project as well,” Cody said. “Do you have an astromech?”

“No, we don’t,” Ahsoka said. 

“We should’ve thought about that,” Rex told himself.

“It’s okay, I can give you mine,” Cody said. “It’s an outdated model anyway, and probably haunted.”

“Haunted?” Rex asked.

“Can’t be worse than Artoo,” Ahsoka said, and Cody just laughed as he raised his comm.

“C1-10P?” Cody said “Can you come to the main communication room?”

The droid grumbled, but Ahsoka could tell it was affirmative.

“”Let’s go,” Cody said. “And Rex, tell me everything on the way there.”

“Sorry vod,” he said. “I can’t afford people overhearing that and getting caught. But you can come over to Aradan anytime and we can catch up. In the meantime, we could talk about what you’ve been up to.”

“I’d love that,” Cody said as he opened the door and started leading them to the communications room.

“I know,” Rex said. “How did you get that scar?”

“I got punched by a B2 battle droid” Cody said, and Rex just laughed. 

Ahsoka fell back so they could catch up, smiling to herself.

* * *

When they arrived in the main communications room, C1-10P was already waiting.

The orange domed astromech grumbled something about them being late.

“He’s a little grumpy,” Cody said, before turning to the astromech. “Go ahead, plug in.”

The droid grumbled but did what he was told. 

“Search for anything relating to the alterations that were made to the clones” Ahsoka asked 

C1 pulled up a list of all the alterations made to the clones. Enhanced lung capacity, increase in body size, greater obedience, more docile, scar-free umbilical cord removal, preemptive removal of the appendix, sterilization by removal of the vas deferens, UV detectable barcode tattooed on wrist. identification chip, inhibitor chip…”

“Wait, that’s the chip over there,” Ahsoka said, and C1 opened the file.

Their eyes scanned the file.

“Who is Tyranus?” Rex asked.

“Master Obi-Wan said it was the guy who hired Jango Fett,” Ahsoka said.

“I thought Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas was the one who hired our template,” Rex said.

“Me too,” Cody said. “Though I later found out that he died shortly after production started.”

“We should make a copy of this,” Rex said. “C1, download all of those files.”

The droid grumbled something colourful, and Rex looked at Ahsoka “What did he say?” 

“He said only a Jedi General can access those files and some profanity.”

“Yeah, the droid is defective,” Cody said. “There’s a reason I think I can get away with just randomly giving it away.” 

“Try Anakin’s access codes,” Ahsoka said.

The droid chirped more profanities at her. 

“8-1-0-8,” she said.

The droid grumbled but the holoscreen showed the files had been downloaded.

“Good,” Cody said. “Now delete all the log entries this has generated and unplug yourself. And go with them. They’re your new owners now. And be nice to them.”

C1-10P grumbled but rolled over to Rex and Ahsoka, lifting his manipulators in a gesture similar to flipping Cody the double bird. Cody rolled his eyes. 

“We should leave now,” Ahsoka said. “The others are waiting for us.” 

Rex sighed. “They are. I’m sorry Codes.”

“It’s okay. I’ll see you again after this campaign,” Cody said. “I’ll come over to Aradan as soon as I can.”

“Okay,” Rex said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“You can say I requested your help with my mission if you need an excuse,” Ahsoka said. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Cody said. “I’ll walk you guys to your ship.”

“Sure,” Rex said.

As they walked to the landing pad, Rex and Cody talked a little more.

When they arrived at the ship, Rex turned to Cody and hugged him. “Thank you for understanding.” 

“Of course, vod,” Cody said. “I’m just glad you’re still alive.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t contact you sooner,” Rex said “I thought you’d either be dead or wouldn’t understand.”

“To be fair, I still have some doubts,” Cody said. “But I’ve met Krell, and lost some men. I understand now.”

“Thank you,” Rex said, touching his forehead to Cody's.

“I’ll miss you,” Cody said.

“We’ll see each other again,” Rex said “I promise.”

Rex, Ahsoka and C1-10P boarded the freighter and Rev took off.

“What happened?’ Coric asked as they sat down.

“We ran into my batchmate, Cody,” Rex said. “Thank you, Ahsoka. For reuniting us.”

Ahsoka smiled at him. “I’m just glad you got to talk that out. You feel lighter in the force”

“As in, less heavy?” Rex asked, confused.

“Well, it could be interpreted as less weighed down, but I meant you felt lighter in the force. As in, less darkness.”

“You can feel that?” Rex asked “Wait, I felt dark? Isn’t that bad by Jedi standards.”

“You still had some anger, and a bit of fear I could feel. But it wasn’t something I worried about.”

“I do feel better,” He admitted. “I felt bad about leaving him behind for a long time, to be honest.” 

“I understand. It must’ve been hard, even though you made the right choice.”

“By leaving Cody behind?”

“No, by doing what’s best for your men and saving them.”

Rex just smiled. “Thanks for understanding. It means a lot.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo-Katan and Echo return home...

“It is a very pretty world,” Echo said quietly, almost to himself as their ship left hyperspace and they began their approach to Aradan.

“It is,” Bo-Katan agreed, flying them through the atmosphere and towards the landing pad at their base. “Not a bad place to come if you ever get tired of the army either,” she added as brought the ship down gently in it’s assigned space.

“No, it wouldn’t be,” Echo mused wistfully, as Bo-Katan shut down her ship.

“Yeah, anyway, I need to go inform the Captain of what happened on Nal Gratta, then we need to start preparing for the attack on the Cyclops’s,” she said, unstrapping herself and heading for the exit. “You can come along if you want, or you can go find your friends.”

“I should probably go find Fives, make sure he’s not getting into too much trouble,” Echo sighed.

“Alright, I’ll see you at the briefing later then.”

“Okay,” Echo nodded and she walked off, heading straight for the command centre.

On the way she passed Grep, who had an armful of datapads that he was just barely managing to hold on to.

“Want a hand?” She asked.

“Yeah, thanks,” he said and she took the top half of his pile. “Just running diagnostics on these, we seem to have picked up a virus somewhere and it’s infecting all our pads.”

“Is it serious?” She asked.

“Not as far as I can tell, it just slows them down a lot and… well, some of our guys aren’t particularly patient,” he said with an annoyed look.

“I see what you mean,” she smirked, looking at the top datapad on her pile, which had a cracked screen in the shape of a fist.

“Yeah, so now I’m going through all the pads we have to see if I can wipe out the virus completely.”

“How’s that going?” She asked.

“Not bad,” he sighed as they reached his office/work room and set down the piles. “It just takes time.”

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then,” she smirked, heading back out the door again. “Oh, you haven’t seen the Captain around have you?”

“No, he’s offworld,” Grep replied, sitting down behind his desk and starting to look over the datapads. “Him, Coric, Fives, that Jedi and the new guy went on a mission to Kamino I think, they didn’t really give too many details, but they’ll be back in a day or two.”

Bo-Katan sighed.

“I hope he’s back soon, there’s a lot we need to discuss.”

“You found the Cyclops’s then?”

“Yes,” she said with an almost feral grin. “And we’ve got another interested party that’s willing to help us take them down.”

Grep grinned as well.

“I’ve been looking forward to bringing them down,” he said, getting to work on the first pad in his pile. “That kind of scum shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”

“No,” she said to herself. “And finally, we’ll have our revenge.”

“What was that?” Grep asked, looking up at her curiously, but she just shook her head and left him to his work.

She headed back the way she’d come and to the command centre so that she could start planning the coming attack and was only mildly surprised to find Echo standing outside the door.

“I can’t find them anywhere,” he told her.

“No, they’ve gone offworld on a mission, but they’ll be back in the next couple of days. In the meantime, you can help me plan the upcoming attack.”

“Yes Sir,” Echo said and followed her inside.

“What’s with the Sir all the time?” She asked. “I’m not your Commander.”

“Force of habit I guess,” Echo replied, looking faintly embarrassed.

“Hmm,” Bo-Katan said. “We’ll have to work on it.”

“Yes S-” Echo cut himself off.

“Just call me Bo-Katan,” she said.

“Okay then, Bo-Katan,” Echo said, sounding odd as he said it.

“Better,” she said with a sigh.

They spent the next few hours running through their troop strengths, what they knew of Lord Maul’s forces, what the Cyclops’s would likely throw against them and what strategies would be best to use to counter them.

They were joined by various members of the Jaig Eyes who added bits and pieces to the plan that was slowly developing, but couldn’t decide anything major until Rex returned.

They were just about to call it a day and grab an early dinner when the traffic controller called, telling them there was some kinda pirate in the space port wanting to talk to whoever was in charge about some great deals he had.

Bo-Katan groaned. There was only one pirate she knew of that was that… bold.

“I’ll be right down,” she told the man and waved Echo to follow her back down to the space port.

“Do you know this guy?” Echo asked as they headed down.

“Yes,” Bo-Katan sighed. “I met him on a job years ago, didn’t think he had the guts to come back after we’d finished with him.”

Echo snorted.

“Sounds like a pirate General Skywalker and General Kenobi ran into a year or so back, Hondo, I think his name was.”

“Yeah, that’s him,” Bo-Katan said. “One of the most annoying people I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.”

“So why are we going to deal with him then?” Echo asked.

“Because, much as I can’t stand the guy, on occasion he is known to get his hands on some reasonable quality items,” Bo-Katan admitted. “Not that I’ve dealt with him since our meeting, but he has a good reputation somehow.”

“Well, only one way to find out,” Echo said.

When they arrived at the port, they found a giant saucer shaped ship sitting on one of the pads, cargo doors down and a few pirates standing around, displaying their stock.

She recognised immediately the pirate at the front, it couldn’t be anyone other than Hondo.

“What do you want Hondo?” She demanded.

“What, that’s no way to talk to a businessman offering you great deals on the highest quality stock, have we met before?” Hondo said in his usual fashion.

“A long time ago,” Bo-Katan replied.

“I’m touched you remembered,” Hondo said, putting a hand over his heart. “In light of our history together then, I shall give you a special discount on vibro blades, and very good quality ones at that,” he said, picking up one from a crate and waving it around.

“Thank you, but I’m not interested in more blades, what else have you got?” Bo-Katan said.

“I’m glad you asked,” Hondo proclaimed and proceeded to lead them around all his stock and, showing off each item like it was a priceless treasure.

But Bo-Katan didn’t see anything worth buying until they got to the last bay, where several rows of deactivated droids stood.

“Commando droids,” Echo said quietly. “Very dangerous and very tough to kill. Those things wiped out a whole battalion once”

“What do you want for these?” She asked.

“Well, they’re top of the line battle droids straight from the Separatists, very hard to aquire, lost a lot of good men doing so,” Hondo said, shaking his head.

“I’m sure,” Bo-Katan said drily.

“Yes, exactly,” Hondo said. “So I couldn’t let them go for anything less than ten thousand credits each.”

“Six thousand, and I’ll take the whole lot,” she countered.

“Ack, you wound me, at six thousand I won’t even cover my costs, let alone have enough to pay some credits to the widows of those that died getting them for me.”

Bo-Katan rolled her eyes, a gesture hidden by her helmet.

“I’m sure their widows appreciate your generosity, but I’m not paying ten thousand for these.”

“Nine thousand nine hundred and fifty then?” Hondo offered.

Bo-Katan sighed.

They haggled back and forth for almost an hour and eventually settled on seven thousand eight hundred and sixty-three credits per droid.

Before she paid for them though, she called in all the Jaig Eyes tech experts to look them over and discard any droids that weren’t operational.

To her surprise, they were all in excellent condition, so she paid Hondo the agreed amount and he had his men unload them all onto the cargo speeders the tech guys brought from their workshop.

As they departed excitedly with their new toys, she and Hondo shook hands.

“A pleasure doing business with you,” he told her with his usual smile. “We’ll be back next week with even better stock.”

“I hope not,” Bo-Katan sighed. “Dealing with you once a decade is more than enough.”

“Ha,” Hondo laughed as he turned and headed back into his ship. “Is good joke, I like you, so much that’ll pay you to come work for me.”

Bo-Katan snorted.

“You couldn’t pay me enough,” she told him.

“No harm in trying,” he replied with a shrug.

“There can be,” she said, patting her blaster.

“Fine, fine,” he conceded, raising his hands in mock surrender. “But Hondo knows that secretly, you adore him and cannot wait for his return.”

And before she could respond to that, he was inside and the ramp was closing behind him and she watched in irritation as the ship lifted off and disappeared into the sky.

“Bloody pirates,” she mumbled to herself and heard a snort in response from Echo.

“I don’t know,” Echo said, and she could hear the smirk in his voice. “He’s growing on me.”

“Shut up,” she told as she marched off, ignoring the quiet laugh he let out as she did.

  


* * *

  


“Home sweet home,” Coric sighed as their ship left hyperspace and they began their approach to Aradan.

‘Yeah, it’s starting to grow on me,” Fives agreed.

Everyone else was silent as they descended through the atmosphere and landed in the main hanger.

There was a crowd of people waiting to meet them as they got off, including Bo-Katan, Sky and Echo.

Coric immediately ran over to Sky and gave her a hug, while Bo-Katan and Echo came to greet Rex, Ahsoka, Fives and Hardcase.

“How was the raid?” Rex asked her as Fives, Hardcase and Echo began to walk off, talking amongst themselves.

“Successful,” Bo-Katan replied. “Gratta gave us their location, numbers and few other details. We also received an offer of assistance from another interested party which we can discuss in the command centre.

“Alright,” Rex nodded as C1-10P rolled out of the ship and past them, beeping something that made Ahsoka snort in amusement.

“What did it say?” Bo-Katan asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Ahsoka sighed, watching as the droid caught up to Hardcase and poked him in the leg with one of its arms, causing him to jump in surprise as the droid rolled off, beeping in amusement.

“What is that?” Bo-Katan asked. “And where did it come from?”

“Ahh,” Rex began. “Well, while we were on Kamino, we ran into my batchmate Cody, who took me being a deserter a lot better than I was expecting and he actually understands why we did it, which is great,” Rex continued with a grin. “And I invited him over. So I should probably add him to the list of expected guests.”

“And make sure he is really okay with you being a deserter,” Bo-Katan muttered, too quietly for him to hear it.

“But yeah, we needed the help of an astromech to complete our mission and he gave us that one to keep, and having gotten to know it better, I can understand why he was allowed to just give it away,” Rex finished with a sigh.

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka smiled. “He’s starting to grow on me.”

“Wonderful,” Bo-Katan said drily. “A droid with an attitude.”

“Yes, and he really doesn’t like Hardcase for some reason,” Rex said.

Ahsoka laughed.

“Well, he did knock him over by accident, then laugh as he tried to right himself,” she said with a smirk.

“True,” Rex agreed as Bo-Katan shook her head. “But pinching him between the plates with his manipulators was still overkill.” 

“As long as it leaves me alone,” Bo-Katan muttered, then turned to Rex. “Do you want to discuss things now or later?” She asked.

“Might as well do it now,” he said, turning to Ahsoka. “I’ll catch up with you at lunch if that’s okay?”

“Okay,” Ahsoka agreed. “I need to catch up with Echo anyway.”

She waved and jogged over to where her men were still talking and Rex’s eyes followed her until Bo-Katan punched him on the shoulder.

“Easy there Captain, she’s a Jedi,” Bo-Katan smirked. “Which means no relationships.”

“I wasn’t thinking that,” Rex said, blushing. 

“Sure you weren’t,” Bo-Katan said with a knowing smile. “Come on, we have a lot to discuss.”

“Right,” Rex nodded, following after her.

They went straight to the command centre and sat down to discuss what she’d discovered.

She told him everything they’d found out and learned and told him about Maul’s offer.

“Do you think we can trust this guy?” Rex asked when she finished.

“No,” Bo-Katan replied. “But he’s with Death Watch and they’ll honour any agreement we make with them, after that though… I’m not sure, we’ll have to keep an eye on them.”

“Okay, so we accept their help then,” Rex nodded. “And stay on alert for any attempts to double cross us.”

“Yeah,” Bo-Katan agreed. “So I’ll tell him to rendezvous with us at the staging point we’ve decided upon.”

“Alright,” Rex said. “What’s next on the agenda?”

“We’ve come up with a rough plan of attack,” Bo-Katan said, bringing up a tactical display of the plans they’d been working on earlier. “But it needs refining, though it’s something we can do later.”

“Yeah,” Rex agreed, glancing over the plans. “I need to get something to eat first.”

“Okay, the only other thing of note is that we’ve acquired fifty Commando droids from a passing pirate and they’re currently being checked over by our tech guys and converted for our use.”

“How did you manage that?” Rex asked in surprise. “They’re top of the line combat droids.”

“Yeah, they weren’t cheap, but I think they’ll be worth it and the cost was easily covered by what we took off Gratta.”

“Alright then,” Rex said, shaking his head. “Anything else that can’t wait till after lunch?”

“No, that’s everything,” Bo-Katan said.

“Okay, Let's get something to eat, we can come back and finish off the plan later.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Bo-Katan smirked, following him out the door.

  


* * *

  


“...And that’s pretty much everything,” Echo finished, as the rest of the table listened intently, especially Fives and Ahsoka.

“I heard of a guy called Maul once,” Ahsoka said after a bit. “He was a Sith and he killed my Grand Master’s Master, then my Grand Master killed him, or thought he did till he came back only a couple of months ago and Master Obi-Wan killed him again.”

“Your Grand Master is Obi-Wan Kenobi?” Bo-Katan asked in surprise.

“Yeah, why, you know him?” Ahsoka replied.

“I met him once, years ago,” Bo-Katan said.

“Oh, cool,” Ahsoka said. “Where did you meet him?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Bo-Katan replied flatly.

“Oh, okay,” Ahsoka said, turning back to Rex and Echo. “So now we’re gonna go after the Cyclops’s now?”

“Yes,” Rex nodded. “We’ll come up with a decent plan of attack and meet up with Maul and his forces, then wipe them out once and for all.”

“That’ll be one less menace the galaxy will have to worry about,” Sky said as C1-10P rolled into the mess and headed for their table.

“Speaking of menaces,” Hardcase growled as the droid reached them.

C1-10P beeped a greeting when he reached them and parked itself at the end of the table, where a large jug of juice stood.

There were a few mumbled hello’s back, but only Ahsoka put any effort into it.

The droid didn’t seem to mind as all it’s attention was focused on the jug of juice.

It approached it slowly, one arm extended and gave it a push, moving it a few centimetres closer to the edge.

“C1…” Ahsoka said warningly.

The droid froze and ever so slowly turned it’s dome to stare at Ahsoka.

After a few moments staring at each other, the droid began moving it’s arm again.

“No...” Ahsoka said.

The just droid let out a chuckle and pushed the jug off, which smashed on the ground, spilling juice everywhere before rolling away with a cackle of laughter.

“Great,” Rex sighed as Ahsoka and Fives got up to clean up the mess. “More droid trouble”

“Look on the bright side,” Bo-Katan grinned. “If it gets too annoying we can use it as target practice.”

“Tempting, but no,” he smirked, before getting up to help Ahsoka and Fives.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex can't focus on preparing for the upcoming mission, and he needs to talk it out with Ahsoka

Rex was pacing his office. He was supposed to be preparing the final plan for the attack on the cyclops, but he kept thinking about Ahsoka. It wasn’t just that he was still unsure how to use her unique talents in battle to their fullest, or how well he could count on her and the rest of his men to interact. They had gotten used to her now, and were warming up to her, but he wasn’t sure if they liked her enough to let her lead her own squad or even join a squad. Maybe it was better to still keep her close to him.

Plus, he liked having her by his side. She was so graceful during battle, and watching her spar with Fives was simply mesmerizing. The way she jumped over the arc trooper so gracefully, and deflected the training bolts he fired at her. 

Of course, when he was training with her she was a lot more intimidating. She was still graceful, but there was a fire in her eyes he didn’t see while she was sparring with Fives (though that could be because she was too focused on her opponent to make eye contact with him, another trait he admired) that gave him an odd feeling in his stomach.

He was taken out of his thoughts by a loud bonk and pain in his forehead. He rubbed his forehead as he glared at the offending lamp. He should really hang that thing a bit higher. 

Then, he heard a knock on the door. Great. Not like he was focusing anyway, so he just said “Come in.”

The door hissed open and Bo-Katan walked in.

“How’s the plan coming along?” She asked.

“Not well,” Rex admitted.

“I can see that,” Bo-Katan said, eying the still swinging lamp.

“I just can’t focus,” Rex said “I don’t know what to do with Ahsoka.”

“Tell her,” Bo-Katan said. 

“I can’t tell her what she’ll be doing if I don’t have a plan, Bo,” Rex said.

The redhead just rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “Rex, you’re an idiot.”

Rex just glared at her for a second. “What do you mean?” He asked.

“Just go talk to Coric,” she said, pushing Rex away.

“I’m fine!” Rex protested, but Bo-Katan had already gotten him over the doorstep and slammed the door behind him. 

Rex sighed. He could get back into his office, but part of him actually wanted Bo-Katan to take over the planning. It wasn’t working out for him anyway.

He just walked in the direction of the medbay. As he entered the square, he saw a group had formed.

“What’s going on?” He asked one of his men. 

“The Jedi is sparring with her men.”

“Echo or Fives?” He asked.

“Both, actually. I’m trying to get a good look but the crowd is too big “

“Yeah,” Rex said, ”I’ll… watch it later. Bo says I need to talk with Coric.” 

“Good luck!” His brother said

When Rex reached the medbay, Coric was already waiting for him. “Bo-Katan just commed to tell me what the problem is.”

“She did?” Rex said as he sat down. “Good. Because she hadn’t told me”

“You keep being too distracted by Ahsoka,” Coric said “And we can all tell you like her. Just tell her.”

“There’s nothing to tell.” Rex said. “We need to focus on the next mission.”

“Bo-Katan is dealing with that,” Coric said. “You need to tell her. You can’t go on thinking about this so much, and we can all tell you’re distracted.”

“I won’t say anything,” Rex said. “She’s off limits. She’s our liaison with the Republic, and a Jedi. Even if she wanted to make our relationship so… unprofessional, it would get her in trouble with the Jedi Council.”

“Since when do you know so much about how the Jedi order works?” Coric asked.

“I asked Fives but that’s irrelevant,” Rex said. “I can’t ask her to be my girlfriend. That’s final.”

“Too bad. I’m pulling rank.” Coric said.

“I outrank you, Sergeant.” Rex said.

“I thought we weren’t doing ranks anymore,” Coric said. “And I’m a medic, I can pull rank if your health is concerned.” 

“I’m perfectly healthy.”

“Not mentally. You’re stressed out about this.”

Rex sighed. “I’m leaving.”

“Good luck,” Coric said. 

Rex rolled his eyes, got up and opened the door. 

Outside, Ahsoka was standing there, about to knock on the door, judging by her raised hand.

“Hi Rex,” she said. “Coric said you wanted to talk to me?”

Rex sucked in a breath. She was wearing the armour he had given her, and both her normal headdress and the faceplate were strapped to her belt.

“Yes,” Coric said. “I’ll leave the two of you alone. And if you don’t ask her, I will on your behalf.”

And with that Coric left through the back door, which led to his personal quarters. Ahsoka smiled at him, and he swallowed. She was making his knees weak again. 

“Come in,” he said. Rex looked around and spotted the couch in the waiting room. It was probably the most relaxed place in the whole medbay, aside from Coric’s quarters but that’d just make it weird. “We can sit on the couch.”

“Sure,” she said, sitting down. “What’s this about?”

“I just had a question about uhm… attachments,” he said awkwardly. “So… what exactly is forbidden?”

“It’s similar to the rule you officers have about not having favourites,” she said. “We just can’t let our personal feelings get in the way of our duty.”

“But can you have those personal feelings?” He asked.

“Officially, no. Or at least, we can’t act on them,” She said. “But if I’m honest, I don’t care that much.”

“Oh uhm…. Do you have any of those feelings?”

“Why do you want to know?” She asked curiously, a small smile forming on her lips.

“Well… it’s just…” he stammered. “Nevermind.”

He got up to leave, but she grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Rex. Tell me.”

He sat down again, and faced her. “I uhm… I like you,” he said.

“Oh. Th-anks,” She stammered. “That’s good to hear.”

Rex sighed. She didn’t feel the same way. Just as he was expecting. If she was attracted to clones, she probably would’ve gone with Jesse instead anyway.

“I understand,” Rex said “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on telling you anyway. But Coric and Bo-Katan made me. I won’t make this weird, I promise.”

She raised one of her eyebrow markings at him, which he ignored and got up, but she pulled him down again. 

“Wait, did you mean… like that?” She asked.

“Yeah, but I’ll respect that you can’t have attachments,” he said.

“I like you too,” she blurted out.

“Oh.” He said. “Do you mean…”

In response, she gently put her hand on his cheek and slowly pulled him in. He let her, even though he still didn’t know what to think about this. Part of him thought she was about to kiss him, but part of him still didn’t believe this was happening.

He just relaxed into her hand, letting her guide him.

When their lips met, his stomach jumped. Her lips were soft and she tasted nice. 

The kiss only lasted a second, before she broke it. 

She smiled at him and he leaned in again. This time, she slipped her hand behind his neck, stroking the back softly. He put his hand on her waist, just above the utility belt. Part of him regretted giving her that armour now, since he’d wanted to feel the back muscles that had been distracting him on Kamino. But if this was going where he thought it was, this wouldn’t be their only kiss.

He broke the kiss, and moved his other hand to her cheek, tracing the wing shape gently. “So… will you be my girlfriend?” He asked.

“Yes,” she said. “But we should probably keep it a secret, at least at first.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Since your master would probably not approve.”

“And your men finally start to like me,” she said. “I don’t want to mess with that.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Though we should probably tell Bo-Katan and Coric. They put me up to this.”

“Yeah, I just don’t want people to think you only like me because I’m your girlfriend.”

“Of course,” he said. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Yes,” she said. “Can I touch your hair?” 

“Of course,” he said. “What about your lekku? I know they’re off limits to most people, but I don’t know the specifics.”

“You can touch them, but stay away from the undersides and tips if we’re in public. Those parts are sensitive.”

“To pain?” He asked.

“No,” she said and before he could ask anything else, she kissed him again. He just leaned in again, and cupped the outside of her lekku, next to her cheek. They were a lot softer then he imagined, but before he could fully appreciate the feeling he heard the door open.

They broke apart, looking at Coric who just stared at them.

“So… I see you two talked it out.” He said.

“Yeah,” Ahsoka said.

“Don’t tell anyone but Bo-Katan,” Rex added.

“As you wish,” Coric said. “Bo-Katan just called. She wants to go over the plan with the two of you.”

“Yeah… let’s go there,” Ahsoka said.

* * *

“Did you tell her?” Bo-Katan asked as soon as Rex entered, closely followed by Ahsoka.

“You still haven’t learned any subtlety,” Rex commented. “But yes, I asked her.”

“And?” Bo-Katan asked, smirking

Rex closed the door behind him and sighed. “We’re together, but we don’t want to tell the others.”

“I don’t want his men to think he only likes me because I'm his girlfriend,” Ahsoka elaborated. 

“Good,” Bo-Katan said. “So, when am I gonna become an aunt?”

Rex sputtered, his face turning an interesting shade of red, while Ahsoka’s lekku turned dark and she glared at Bo-Katan.

“Just kidding” Bo-Katan laughed. “There’s enough little trouble makers running around without you adding to them.”

“Good,” Ahsoka said shortly. “Because I’m way too young to become a mother, even if it were possible, and I’m not sure if it is.”

“Alright,” Bo-Katan said, still chuckling. “Sorry for teasing you like that. Rex’s reactions are just too funny.”

“Ahsoka, how do you feel about being my second in command?” Rex asked. “The position might open up soon”

Bo-Katan smirked. “Don’t do it, this job is terrible.” She advised. “But speaking of kids, Ursa can’t join us on this mission.”

“Ursa is an adult,” Rex said.

“That’s what she claims,” Bo-Katan muttered. “But that’s not the reason. She’s pregnant, again,” Bo-Katan said. “And since we don’t have any maternity armour, she can’t join us.”

Rex sighed. “Nats are weird. Alright, let’s get to planning this attack. What do you have?”

“Right,” Bo-Katan said, pulling up the holomaps and plans she’d been going over. “The plan is reasonably simple, we’re joining up with Maul’s forces behind the moon of the outermost planet, where we can share the plan with them and make any last minute changes we need to, from there, we’ll send a couple of scouts in first to disable any sensors they might have before the rest of us jump in.”

She paused to take a breath before continuing. 

“When we begin the attack, we’ll approach from the night side as their base is on the day side during the window we’re looking at, which should give us the element of surprise and allow our fighters and bombers to take out the majority of their defense before they realise what’s happening. From there, we’ll land our troops to the north and south of the base, boxing them in and trapping them, then all that’s left to do is wipe them out,” Bo-Katan smirked.

“Simple,” Rex nodded. “I like it, have you informed Maul yet?”

“I’ll do that now,” Bo-Katan said, stepping away to make the call.

She returned a couple of minutes later with a smirk on her face.

“Maul’s forces are ready to go, they’ll meet us at the rendezvous point in two days,” she told them.

“Good,” Rex said. “Will those Commando droids be ready to use?”

“Unfortunately no,” Bo-Katan sighed. “They’re still being worked on and overhauled. We don’t want a programming glitch causing them to kill all the clones in the base.”

“No, that would be bad,” Ahsoka agreed.

“Yes, quite,” Bo-Katan said drily. “But anyway, that’s the plan, anything you want to add?”

“No, I think it’s fine for now, we can always fine tune it later,” Rex said.

“Alright then, I’ll tell everyone to finish their preparations by tomorrow so we can leave first thing the day after,” Bo-Katan said.

“Okay,” Rex nodded and Bo-Katan left leaving them alone.

“So… where were we?” Ahsoka asked with a smirk.

“Still really early in our relationship” he said. “So I don’t want to continue with _that_ subject”

She laughed. “I know, don’t worry. I just wanted to kiss you a little more. Maybe cuddle a little”

“I’d like that,” Rex said. “And we could talk about how we could make this work.”

“Sounds good,” she said.

“I think it might be easier if you join us officially,” he admitted. “We can’t keep it a secret forever. My men aren’t as oblivious as your- Nevermind, I shouldn’t say that.”

“Yeah, it’s not Anakin’s strongest point,” she chuckled. “And I’d love to join, but I can’t leave the Jedi order. at least not during the war. My men still need me, even if I’m here most of the time. I can’t abandon them.”

“I won’t make you choose between us and the Jedi,” Rex said. “Or us and your own men. If you want to go back to them while we raid the Cyclops, I’d understand and support you.”

“Thanks, but they’re deployed now.” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to join them now anyway. And you guys need me too.”

“Yeah,” Rex said. “We still have some time.”

“My quarters,” Ahsoka said, and she started dragging Rex away. Rex followed willingly, hoping his men wouldn’t see this as they wouldn’t let him live it down.

* * *

Two days later the assembled Jaig Eyes fleet left hyperspace above the rendezvous planet to find Maul’s forces already awaiting their arrival.

Almost immediately, his forces hailed them and they set up a conference holo so that everyone could hear the plan.

As Maul and another, yellow Zabrak’s holo flickered into life around their holo table, Rex couldn’t help a feeling of unease as he looked at the crime lord. There was something sinister about him he couldn’t quiet place and Ahsoka seemed to feel it too, if the way she tensed up was any indication.

 _“We’re here,”_ Maul growled. _“Where are the Cyclopses?”_

“On the moon of the innermost planet in this system,” Bo-Katan informed him, bringing up the holo display of their attack plan. “Their base of operations is on the northernmost continent, hidden in this valley between the mountains where they probably hoped they’d be safe from discovery,” Bo-Katan smirked and Maul allowed a sinister smile to form on his face.

 _“So they’re trapped in there, if we control the skies,”_ he mused quietly and the Zabrak beside him smiled evilly.

“Yes,” Bo-Katan agreed. “Do you have enough fighter craft to control the skies?”

 _“We do,”_ Maul said. _“And I have a high amount of troops, but they are… lacking in quality compared to your forces, I only have a couple of hundred Mandalorian commandos at my disposal.”_

“I’m sure we can easily compensate for that,” Rex said, speaking for the first time.

 _“And who are you?”_ Maul asked.

“I’m Captain Rex, leader of the Jaig Eyes,” Rex informed him.

 _“Ahh yes, I’ve heard of you,”_ Maul nodded, before turning back to Bo-Katan. _“You have a plan I assume, let's hear it.”_

“Thought you’d never ask,” Bo-Katan said drily, bringing up the plan on the holos.

“Okay, their base is located on what is currently the sunward side of the planet, we’re on the night side at the moment and if one of our fast attack ships jumps in first and either jams or takes out any sensory satellites on that side, the rest of our forces can jump in undetected and come in low from the darkside to take them by surprise. Once we’re close enough to their base, our fighters and bombers will race ahead to disable any anti air defences and anything else they try to throw at us while the troopships split up approach and approach from the north and south, catching them in a pincer attack.”

 _“Who gets which side?”_ The other Zabrak asked.

“Which would you prefer?” Bo-Katan asked, feeling generous.

Maul frowned thoughtfully at the map for a moment.

 _“It looks like the bulk of their barracks are towards the south, so we’ll take the south,”_ Maul said.

“Okay then,” Bo-Katan nodded, adding some notes to the plan. “So we’ll land our forces at these points here, which give us the best access to their facilities and from there, we wipe them out,” She finished with a grim smile.

A smile that mirrored Maul’s.

 _“When do we begin?”_ Maul asked.

“As soon as your forces are ready,” Bo-Katan replied.

 _“We’re ready,”_ Maul said darkly, and their holograms vanished.

“To your stations,” Rex ordered. “Ahsoka, you’re with me.”

“Wait, Rex, I think Maul is the Sith Lord I’ve heard of,” Ahsoka said quietly, concern in her voice.

“What makes you say that?” Bo-Katan asked.

“I recognise his friend, his name is Savage Opress, he used to be a Separatist assassin, responsible for killing at least seven Jedi and was last seen with Darth Maul before Master Obi-Wan reported him dead. They must have survived somehow and taken over some of the crime syndicates.”

“If that’s the case, what do you suggest we do about it? Because they’re the Republic’s problem not ours,” Bo-Katan said.

“They’re Sith, they can’t be trusted,” Ahsoka warned.

Bo-Katan laughed.

“We know that already,” She told Ahsoka. “And them being Sith doesn’t change anything, in fact, it’ll probably make our mission easier,” Bo-Katan said.

“But they’re jedi killers,” Ahsoka pressed, turning to Rex. “You can’t fight with them.”

Rex sighed quietly, glancing between Ahsoka and Bo-Katan.

“I’m sorry Ahsoka, but I think it’s better if we side with them, at least for now.”

“But they’ll definitely double cross us if they find out I’m a Jedi.”

“We can’t back out now,” Rex said not without good reason. “And we can hide that you’re a jedi. You’ll be safe, I promise.”

“Alright,” Ahsoka sighed. “I’m still not happy with it though.”

“We’ll keep an eye on them,” Bo-Katan said. “We’re not stupid. But the Cyclops need to die, and they’re our best bet.”

“Plus, we might manage to figure out who this Sidious is that’s employing them. And if they double cross us, we can tell the Republic where they are and let them deal with them,” Rex said.

Ahsoka nodded reluctantly. “Alright, but when he stabs us in the back I’m going to say I told you so.”

“I can live with that,” Rex smirked and Ahsoka grinned back.

“Alright, let me break this up before it gets sappy,” Bo-Katan said with a long suffering sigh. “We still have a mission finish.”

“Right,” Rex nodded. “Give the order, prepare for battle.”

Bo-Katan nodded and put her helmet on, issuing the orders as she headed for the troop bay of their ship.

Rex headed that way as well, followed closely by Ahsoka.


End file.
